Ragged Edges
by Auger1
Summary: Naruto is the last Uzumaki, the last Namikaze, and was captured by Iwa nin, is everything as it seems, and even if his friends get him back, will he ever be the same? Naruto/Harem Insanity Influx
1. Unpleasant Truths and Returned Heroes?

Disclaimer: There are three kinds of people, people who know I don't own Naruto, people who think I don't own it, and really really stupid people. Cheers.

My Japanese Sucks, My Style is Rough, And I am unforgivable in many ways as an author, that having been said, I am seeking Beta/s, and any tips, tricks, or pointers are more welcome than a slap to the head by a two by four. Arigato. ;P

Chapter One: Destruction and Death

The Slug Sannin was worried, strike that, she was terrified, if Iwa had done something to Naruto, this display of confidence, was both a slap in the face, and unnervingly telling of the possibility that they could enact a rescue. A month earlier, the insistence that he be allowed to attend the chunnin exams, in the village with the strongest rivalry to the leaf, had seemed an out of place show of faith and support to the Gennin by the council, now she was convinced that it was treason. Regardless of her misgivings however it had been time in the cycles to allow those without teams in the same rank and situation the option of competing for Kage, and Country, Kakashi, was an excellent ninja, Sakura, was moral support, there hadn't even been an issue against sending the entire Rookie Nine, and Guy's Team, as a show of Solidarity, that certain members of the Village Hidden in the Sand had been attending as well had calmed her nerves only slightly, ultimately she had given in only reluctantly, suspicious only that things had been coming together so perfectly, and with Shizune going along for the initial tests, she had even gotten an extra little Sake Vacation. When she had heard back early she had actually been relieved, annoyed, but relieved, until she read the report. Five Jounin, Ten Chunnin, and one loudmouth Genin, had been attacked before they had even reached the border of fire country, by an overwhelming number of Iwa nin from the front, and what from the reports of the Jounin appeared to be two ANBU assassination squads of unknown origin.

The oddest part of the whole fiasco wasn't the betrayal, the attack of what appeared to be most of Iwa's active forces, or even the rear action of the following force. There were no bodies, of all the Leaf nin attacked they didn't kill or capture any but Naruto himself. Putting Tsunade in a delicate position, had they killed the hero Sharingan Kakashi, or taken Sarutobi Asuma, acknowledged son of the Third Hokage, even any of the other young nins of growing fame, the council would have leapt at the chance to start a war, however all members of the party had after being incapacitated been left alone, even going so far as to returning them almost to the village proper, except Naruto. It had been more than one month since he had been captured, and through apparently preemptive outreach to the Daimyo, by the council, even some of the most surprising members they had been successful in preventing 'Unnecessary, expenditures,' in this time of increasingly delicate relationships with their allies. The translation seemed to be, 'Screw the Demon Brat, Good Riddance,' with very few exceptions.

Then came the oddity of the people currently occupying the office of the Godaime Hokage. Two figures, one cloaked in the purest white, she wore her cloak unclasped, around her shoulders, displaying a full head of blond hair, done in a single braid down the center of her back, she wore underneath an outfit of blood red leather, solid save for a design on the stomach, a single crescent moon surrounding a star, on a swirling vortex, in gold. One of the most feared symbols in the ninja world, the sign of the legendary torturers of Iwa, a Twisted Heart. The other figure was obviously a child, no taller than thigh high on the woman, a thin chain extended from her waist to the neck of the figure cloaked in a rich red, the figure was trembling almost unnoticeably, and though obscured obviously staring at the woman's upper back, as though terrified to look anywhere else.

"I would think that while relations between our villages are in such a delicate state you would know better than to come before me in a meeting that you requested, both armed and towing a prisoner, much less a child," Tsunade hissed sarcastically to the Iwa nin with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, Lady Tsunade," said the woman smoothly, before turning to the child, and removing a short red leather rod from around her neck and placing it around the neck of her companion, before taking their hand, "Go my Pet, stand in the room we passed with the chunnin who is handing out missions for the Hokage, and don't disturb the Hokages people with any, idle prattle, until I've finished talking with Lady Tsunade," a high whimper could be heard from her companion, as they clutched desperately at her arm, her eyebrow raised almost of it's own accord, "Now my Pet," she said harshly, before softening, "Do it for me."

With a bowed head, "Yes Mistress Deanna," her companion was gone.

"Seal your office, so that we might have some privacy for our discussion," the Iwa Jounin said, finishing sheepishly, "Please, Lady Tsunade."

Pulling a small piece of paper from the drawer of her desk the Slug Princess nicked her thumb, and swiped the seal, nodding, "It's done."

"What do you know of Twisted Heart?" Asked the Jounin sitting gracefully in one of the offices visitors chairs

Meanwhile, a childlike figure was standing silently in a room where Umino Iruka, and Miyu Shizune were handling the dispensation of ninja duties, until they decided to discover more about their nervous young visitor Ton Ton had just noticed. "And who might you be?" she asked gently, picking up the pig, and settling a hand on the small shoulder she could see through the cloak, causing a slight whimper as the figure looked down, seeming to shrink into himself, as he trembled, shaking his head, fearing to speak.

"Are your Mommy and Daddy around," Iruka asked gently approaching after he noticed the boys reaction, eliciting only another frantic headshake.

"**I'm telling you, we smelled him, he's gotta be around here somewhere!"** shouted Inuzuka Kiba from right outside the door.

"**And I'm telling you Baka no Dog breathe, if you think it's funny fucking around with me and poor Hinata about Naruto, I'm going to Smash you so flat that Shisui won't be able to identify you, with your Mother's help!"** Haruno Sakura was heard to reply.

"P-perhaps, Kibakun is right Sakurachan, we should go to the Hokage with this as soon as we can, maybe he's escaped and come back," Hyuga Hinata intoned ever the voice of reason, as they opened the door, allowing the entirety of the remaining rookies through.

"Hinata-Sama, you must not get your hopes up, without more definite proof, we all know what captured Narutokun, and I'm sure we all remember how many people have ever escaped from their clutches," the deceptively calm voice of Hyuga Negi interrupted gently, with a hand on her shoulder.

"**Nonsense, my most unyouthful rival, Narutokuns fires of youth burn with a brightness that is almost unmatched, even by my own, and Guy-Sensei's, Guy Sensei told me himself, if he has not escaped and come back here on his own, then I will go and retrieve him myself, and then take one hundred laps from here to Suna on my hands while yodeling!" **Yelled Rock Lee, flashing a nice guy pose, and causing the rest of 'the rookies' to face plant.

"You said he smells like blood, and fear Kiba, psh troublesome, no matter who's right, hopefully he's back, and we won't even have to worry about it anymore," Nara Shikimaru, sighed, not quite covering his genuine concern.

"We unassigned, ninja on administrative leave, due in part to our respective outbursts at the council, who were only and completely understandably acting on behalf of the Daimyo's interests, in a series of actions that though they were started preemptively, and precipitated in the large scale attack of a group of our ninjas by both a force that was assigned from Konoha proper, and our most bitter enemy Iwagakure no Sato, were perfectly legal and justified, and not in the least bit a vicious piece of treason that should result in the immediate slow execution of any and all council members involved, perhaps a piece at a time, by Rasengan, right Jiraya Sama, are returning from our slight vacation to one of the surrounding hot springs of Fire Country," said Hatake Kakashi, both with a straight voice and a raised eyebrow drawing both a kneeling Iruka, and Shizune's attention temporarily away from the small figure, "We have nothing to report."

"You're back awfully early from your, vacation," Iruka said hopefully, "Are you sure there's no news at all?"

"We came back early, because on a sweep through the area between Konohagakure, and Iwagakure, Akamaru and I picked up Naruto's scent heading back here, and-" Kiba reached down to ruffle Akamaru's head only to notice that his companion wasn't there, and was quickly approaching what appeared to be a small child in the corner, **"Akamaru, no come back!"** He shouted to late as Akamaru leapt at the small figure knocking him down, and his hood back to reveal the bright blonde hair of what appeared to be a younger and uncontrollably panicked Uzumaki Naruto, who was being mercilessly licked by Akamaru.

"Merciless killers, you are ninja who ruthlessly serve the Tsuichikage unto death, no one has ever survived your attention, and you all specialize in torture, and interigation," Tsunade said sardonically, with a raised eyebrow, "Am I close?"

"I'll have to go back farther than I thought, do you know where bloodlines come from?" The Jounin said briskly, receiving only a gesture to go on, "The Family that ruled, or rules my homeland has been ninja for thousands of years, we are tied to them by our loyalty, and have been for many thousands of years, but even more than that, since the great father of their line, we have been tied to our rulers through love, our love of them, and theirs of their people."

"And how exactly was he a 'great father,' if he didn't begin the line?" Tsunade prompted impatiently.

"Let me tell you as we are told, upon the commencement of our training," she said sitting up straight in her chair, "There was a great evil, when the initial bond was created to protect those who were loyal to the ancestors of my lord's great father, however over two millennia they became corrupt until an act of rape, and the escape of his mother with the help of her father led to the raising of the great father as an honorable man, and the most powerful ninja ever seen till that point. He met a woman with a bloodline, that was a powerful weapon amongst women, but completely unstoppable when inherited by men, all males born in her line were killed, and their bloodline was so powerful, that they could not help but destroy any they lay with. Their bloodline was the power to induce love in others, all encompassing love, unquenchable, and unstoppable."

"Love," Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Deanna continued, "The evil father of the great father killed all but one of her line, and had intended to take her bloodline from her, gain a son with unstoppable power. She met his son, who with his mother's father worked together to stop him, many years later when they wished to bear children, they could not kill their son, so he changed her bloodline in their children with the help of the original bond, he did not want to leave his children helpless to the world, but neither did he wish to leave them with the power to subjugate the world on a whim. He made the power a whirlpool within their hearts."

"Nani?"

"I'm not explaining this well, the power to begin with grew in all children, and had to be held back with iron will at all times, and that is why any man they lay with, or woman, they wanted would be lost, the great father made the power dependent upon the state of the user, love for love if you will, but the power leaked…"

"Leaked how?" Tsunade asked, "Assuming I believe you."

"The scions of this new power loved uncontrollably, they cared for people, without reserve, and as they loved so was their love returned, and even in that way they inoculated those they cared for against the ultimate use of their power. There were other balances that had to be made from a power that had to be brought forth from one that must be held back, they developed the ability to change themselves and others, physically, not genjutsu, but physical changes, they could for all intents and purposes make bloodlines among those they cared for, or themselves, but the transformations were complete, and permanent when used on others."

"Nani?"

"For instance, a line of trusted diplomats could be given the sight to stop the lies in a rivals throat, or a spy eyes that will remember all they see, even imbue a line with an unparalleled mastery of the chakras of life, even if they divided their powers so as to believe they were no longer the same." She finished purposely, "Of course my own powers are gained through the bond of love and loyalty to my master's family, as long as they live I can gather expressed chakra used against me, and control all from that ninja, any Twisted Heart can, we volunteer to serve our lord out of love from the time our training begins, and we are taught to break any who would harm our masters."

"If you're so loyal to the Tsuichikage, what is the point of your coming here now?"

"Lady Tsunade, you misunderstand me, Tsuchi no Kuni, is not and never has been the homeland of the Twisted Heart, Uzu no Kuni is," she finished to the reddening face of the Slug Sannin.

"You kidnap my so-," she stops herself, "Naruto, presumably you've tortured him for the last month, all for who his father was against Iwa, and now you come to me with this wild cock and bull story about being from his mother's homeland, well presumably if you still have your 'powers,' you didn't betray your great leader, why are you here?"

"I'm here so you can kill me-"**/CRASH/**

He wasn't laughing, he looked terrified as he scrambled away from the giant dog, tears coming to his eyes, standing and backing away from the dog, still not daring to speak. "Naruto, Akamaru, are you sure that's Naruto?" Kiba asked disbelievingly, "He sucks at genjutsu, so who's keeping this up?"

"Kai!" tried most everyone without a Byakugan in the room, "It's not a genjutsu, confirmed Neji.

"It's Narutokun's Oiroike no Jutsu," said Hinata blushing a deep maroon, "Sort of."

"Kya, Baka! Release that stupid perverted Jutsu, right now!" Sakura shouted advancing menacingly on the trembling figure, winding back to hit the now cowering, and shaking figure, who just looked pitifully up at her.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu," / "Kage Mane no Jutsu" / "Baika no Jutsu"

"You two got forehead?" Ino said from Sakura's mouth, gaining confirmation, before she left her friends mind, "Good, now Forehead, assuming this is Naruto, who seems absolutely terrified, and is crying, maybe we should try for information before injury, Ja ne?"

"Naruto?" she asked gently approaching the frightened figure, kneeling to do so as her team mates released a chagrinned Sakura, and he backed slowly away, looking more and more terrified, "Naruto kun, we're your friends, remember we're not gonna hurt you, how'd you get back?" Naruto only continued to shake his head not saying anything. "Okay, now here comes the hard way, Shintenshin no Jutsu" Naruto's body screamed and fell to the floor as she entered it, retreating immediately, sobbing to her own body.

Hinata approached slowly, the boy she had so long admired, gently placing her hand on his small arm, "Na-naruto kun, can you tell us anything?" she asked gently, frowning, as he shook his head desperately, and almost crying out at the terrified shudder he gave upon seeing her frown, "Why can't you tell us?" she asked leaning in as closely as she could to hear just the tiniest whisper, "Mistress Deanna told me not to talk to anyone, till she's done with the nice old lady." At everyone's surprise, and no longer being restrained from greeting his old friend, Akamaru doesn't even bother going around the table, instead going through, before knocking down Naruto to again taste his face.**/CRASH/**

Upon entering the mission assignment room the Slug Princess, and the Jounin found a dog as big as a lion holding down a childlike version of Uzumaki Naruto, and making his face quite damp, immediately springing into action Deanna tackled Akamaru, and pulled up Naruto roughly by his cloak, "Are you uninjured after your little game Pet?" she said disapprovingly.

"Yes Mistress Deanna, Thank You Mistress Deanna, I'm sorry I failed you Mistress Deanna," he said in a rush, pleadingly hiding behind her.

"Stick your fingers in your ears and hum, my Pet, it appears I can't trust you alone for even a minute," she said wryly, taking a chair, and pulling the unresisting young man into her lap, "As I was saying, I want you to kill me to free my Master, Uzumaki Naruto, the last remaining scion, of the Uzumaki Clan, and rightful ruler of both Uzu no Kuni, and Tsuchi no Kuni. My Lord and Master, my only love and reason for living, and," she finished sadly, "The man whose very mind, and spirit I've broken over the last month."


	2. Moving Along, and a Council of Fools

Disclaimer: If there are any Naruto's reading this I don't own you, If I could lock down a nice down to earth 21 year old Hinata, however, I could have all kinds of fun.

Chapter Two: Protecting the Weak, or Less Alone Than Previously Thought.

"Hinata, Neji, this seems like an awfully good henge, check it out," Tsunade said without preamble carefully watching the dangerous woman as she gently stroked the hair of what appeared to be a five-year-old Uzumaki Naruto, while seemingly trying very hard to keep her composure.

Not even bothering to reactivate their Byakugan, both Neji and Hinata quickly confirmed that it was a solid transformation of state, size, mass, shape, all the many things thought to be impossible on that level for a ninja, along with the belief that it was indeed Naruto.

"And how would you recognize Naruto specifically?" Tsunade asked, barely daring to hope that her favorite ninja might have been returned to her basically in one piece, if only physically.

"Naruto-kun has a unique quality surrounding his chakra, due in part to the,-" Naruto jumped up and quickly removing his fingers from his ears pulled on Hinata's arm before she could finish.

"You're not supposed to talk about it, you could get your head chopped off," he whispered tearfully into her ear, once it was closer to his mouth.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun, for your concern, but I was only going to mention that you have very strong chakra, and a very potent chakra network, more than I've ever seen, and that I didn't see how anyone could replicate it for this kind of ruse," she said gently, putting her hand on his little shoulder, and looking him straight in the eye, as he started to lose his nerve, and back away again, a voice piped up behind him.

"Pet, why are your fingers out of your ears?" Deanna said a little dangerously, causing Naruto to scramble back for the Jounin's lap, "And you seem to have stopped humming." Noticing the predominance of glares she was now receiving from the assembled shin obi, Deanna explained herself with a sigh, "There have been very few instances of pardons, among those captured by Twisted Heart over the thousands of years we have been in service, the current conditions are far from ideal, but stability is one of the predominant factors to recovery among former prisoners."

"Huh?" Kiba, asked, drawing an annoyed look from most of the room.

"She means she's been torturing everything she could out of my, eh out of Naruto for a month, and she now wants him to get better instead of worse," Sakura accused glaring at the foreign Jounin, only to be joined by the rest of the present ninja. Deanna leaned back in her chair, somewhere between languid, and deadly, pulling Naruto to lean against her as well.

"I take it that everyone in this room is trustworthy?" she said unsubtly looking at the Hokage, with a raised eyebrow.

"The people in this room all have a great deal of vested interest in the safety, health, survival, and perhaps most importantly well being of Uzumaki Naruto, if we can count on that sentiment from you," the Hokage said significantly.

"She means we're all Naruto's friends," Sakura forestalled Kiba, with an arm to the chest, more than a little harder than she really needed to.

"If someone wouldn't mind hearing more about this later, perhaps one of the young women would like to take Naruto out into the hall for me, and the two of you can catch up," Deanna said significantly, holding out the end of the leash towards the younger Kunoichi, only to be met by slight glares before a gently smiling Shizune intervened.

"Hinata, you seem to be having some luck, Ino, Sakura, TenTen, come on, Iruka would you like to catch up with Naruto as well?" a relieved Iruka, followed a distressed Ino, a calm Hinata, an annoyed Sakura, and a curious TenTen into the hall.

"First I would like to tell you that I retrieved all the files we had on rec-" Deanna started before turning to the KI that was being released now that the terrified seeming Naruto was no longer present, "This is going to be more difficult than I feared," she sighed.

In the furthest bowels of the same tower, the center of Shinobi life in all of Konoha, a man in a rat mask was seeking out the one eyed man to report something gone very wrong with the plans of the council of Konohagakure no Sato, a meeting of the council had to be called, this failure had to be addressed.

"How are you feeling today, Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked forcing her voice to display false cheerfulness, for the sake of the boy who was so dear to her heart.

"I'm not sure I'm supposed to talk," he said almost to quietly to hear.

"Like that's ever stopped you before, baka," Sakura said rolling her eyes and pulling back her fist to bop the now cowering boy, only to pull up short as what can only be described as a sword buried itself in the floor before her nearly tripping her, and a quick strike from the rear made her begin to lose feeling in her legs entirely, as she was lowered to the floor by Hinata, and Ino while Shizune only rolled her eyes.

"Gomennasai, Sakura-san, but I will not let you hit Naruto-kun, when he is unable to defend himself properly," Hinata said firmly, as Naruto, still terrified moved behind her, and clutched her jacket like a lifeline.

Upon looking at each other, Ino and TenTen stated in odd unison, "We agree, with Hinata, you have a serious problem," leaving Sakura in the awkward position of stuck on the floor with numb legs pondering her actions, until Shizune quickly knelt down over her.

"Can you be good?" she asked teasingly.

"Gomennasai, sempai, I'll be good," Sakura affirmed ashamed getting up, "Now back to the questions."

Naruto just shivered, his lips trembling, and looked even more scared, until Hinata knelt down, and picked him up, as easily as a real five year old, "It's alright Naruto-kun, do you remember Shizune from before?" she asked gently, receiving a nod in reply, "She's very nice isn't she?" she received another affirmative, "Well none of us want to get you in trouble, and maybe if you answer her questions we can help you better okay?" another nod.

"He's in a lot of pain," Ino stated shuddering at the memory of her brief visit into Naruto's mind, not noticing the four younger ninja behind her in time to temper her statement.

"Hey boss," Sarutobi Konohamaru said waving excitedly, causing Naruto to give a little squeak and bury his face in Hinata's bust, causing her to blush considerably, coat or no.

"Hinata-sama, what is the matter with the boy you like?" Hanabi, having arrived with the Konohamaru Corps said, slightly condescendingly.

"Ebisu-sensai told us to go directly to the Tower and find out what the old lady wanted us to do, we heard something about a trial, and a demon?" Udon said, sniffing hugely, Shizune upon hearing this became along with Iruka, and Sakura incredibly panicked, they turned as one towards the door, only to find they were already surrounded almost entirely, by dark figures in animal masks, one of whom had already slapped a privacy seal over the mission room doors.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are hereby charged with being Absent Without Authorized Leave, from the Shinobi force of Konohagakure no Sato, by the honorable council of the same, you are required to accompany us to your trial to be convened immediately before said council, failure to comply will result in your immediate termination, and any resistance is to be met with deadly force," the rat masked ANBU said threateningly, to the now sobbing five year old looking ninja, "I guess you're not going to comply then?" he smirked, moving forward as his roughly ten cohorts did the same.

As soon as he felt the chakra expenditure Jirayia knew something was wrong, "I'll take care of it," he settled his former team mate as she made to get up, "Kakashi? Boys?" he quickly made his way to the hall followed by the remaining males in the room, he made his way into the beginning of a sticky situation in the hall, "Well I don't think this will be necessary, now will it?" Jiraiya said shooting the root members dirty looks, sure they had been among those sent for the original capture, and still pissed that he hadn't been there for his godson.

"Forgive me Jiriaya-Sama, but this matter does not concern you, the council has made a decision regarding the Nukenin, Uzumaki Naruto," rat said condescendingly bowing.

"The Hokage makes those decisions," he replied flatly idly holding his hand out and beginning to spin a little chakra in it for effect.

"The Council has already convened on the matter," rat said firmly.

Jiraiya opened the door he was still standing by, "We have to go clear some things up with the council." If the situation hadn't been so serious he would have laughed at his former teammates gritting teeth.

"Lead the way," he gestured the rest to follow him, Hinata still carrying Naruto, as they started towards the first ever SS rank, illegal Nukenin trial for a loyal Genin rank Shinobi after their safe return from enemy capture.

Inuzuka Tsume, her daughter Hana, Aburime Sheena, Haruna Kana, Yamanaka Satsuki, Ichiraku Ayame and Nara Ayaka were on a mission. Ultimately it was their duty as the only remaining members of the teams sent to infiltrate Konoha, and protect Uzumaki Kushina, and any descendents that were branched from that line, with the exception of Hana, Ayame, and Sheena, they were all members of the original teams that had left Uzi no Kuni, and without exception they had all excepted the responsibility in some form, and no doubt all had been relieved to find the trail leading back into Konoha, until ANBU had come to inform Tsume of the emergency trial of the Nukenin, Uzumaki Naruto, and their plans had come crashing down.

Uzumaki Naruto, sobbing against Hyuuga Hinata, while she rubbed his shrunken back consolingly was not quite aware of all that was going on, he neither had the available memories, nor the current capacity for free thought required to realize the situation, but he was terrified, in the defendant box desperately clinging to the Hyuuga heiress, to the vocal disapproval of the council.

"Let this trial commence."


	3. Impressive Probably not Neccessary

Disclaimer: I'm not claiming anything here, nor making any money, nor receiving any cookie bouquets in compensation for what I am writing, hmm, cookies.

MogtheGnome, I'm sorry I stole your name it's just too perfect.

Chapter Three: An Amazing, and Probably Altogether Unnecessary Rescue.

If there were three things that was important to Momochi(hopefully someday Uzumaki) Haku, they were loyalty, kindness, and Uzumaki Naruto-sama, for many years when she was younger she had viewed herself only through the lens of a tool of Momochi Zabuza, and found out too late that he hadn't viewed her in that light alone himself, which ultimately made his demise only more difficult, except that he had been there, well not exactly, him, some of his shadow clones. When he had been sent to dispose of both her, and her former master's bodies, Naruto had discovered, that she was still alive, he had kept many clones at the task of taking care of her, even as he had almost one hundred at the task of finishing the bridge each day, and learning things from the workers he was working beside. Each day his replacement clones would explain how dismissive Sasuke, and Sakura, had been towards the wisdom, and advice shared by the inhabitants of the former, and future trading hub, and he had developed a plan to help, it was incredible. The day that the Konoha Shinobi had left had been the day she'd begin viewing him as her master, he came to her personally to say goodbye, and told her of his arrangements, he had made Four Kage Bunshin, individually, spaced an hour apart each, "No Naruto-sama, you do not need to trouble yourself for me." she remembered with tearful eyes, the way he had reassured her, after he had made the fourth, he had made over a thousand, that had driven off the remains of Gato's men, and looted his fortress to the foundation. He had trusted, the remains of the fortune to Tazuna, and had arranged for the recovering Haku to remain under Tsunami's capable care. She had only found out later that he had insisted that if he got a share of the recovery it go towards paying for Haku's board, and recovery, and a discreet med nin from Konoha. The remainder had been more money than she had ever had access to in her life, and Tazuna, had promised to hold back Naruto's A-rank pay for him as well, to buy into a trading expedition, along with some of the other beneficiaries of Gato's Departure. With the remainder of his share he left for her, and a ship the village had salvaged from Gato's impressive fleet, and his mission pay, after getting his shadow clones to accept her proposal, the "Great Hero Ramen," shipping company was born, with Momochi Haku, as personal assistant to,(read one who handled company for) the CFO/CEO Uzumaki Naruto. With the ease of hiring, and the knowledge and goodwill of the people of Wave Country, the first voyage, in which a shipment of various foodstuffs, had been retrieved from Tea Country, Shipped to Wind Country, who's steel goods, (among the finest in the world) had been a remarkable hit in Konoha, especially when the transport cost had been halved by Haku's knowledge of Sealing scrolls. They had more than doubled their initial investment after paying out expenses. She had been heading the rising company, following what Naruto viewed as fair trade practices(mostly, he was a little soft on the customers), for almost four years when Umino Iruka, had informed her by phone, that Naruto had been captured, and she would not be able to refer decisions to him until he was safely retrieved. The village wasn't even trying, only his friends, and she couldn't find him, but Naruto-sama was brilliant, sometimes scary brilliant, he'd get out right. She had doubted him, when he'd started investing in movies, even after that huge influx of cash from the Princess Fuun movies. She'd doubted him when he had made a division of 'Great Hero Ramen,' specifically for the purpose, and another for the recovery of ancient technology, but with the cooperation of Fujikaze Yukie, the Daimyo of Snow, and apparently Naruto-sama's close personal friend, and his own generous business practices, both had found untold success, discovering, studying, finding how to produce, and/or mass produce, and releasing a plethora of previously unavailable things, from laptops, to cell phones, Naruto's ample use of shadow clones during the experimentation process when the items were sent to him, had often led him to knowing an item in and out before he even turned on the original, and had nearly if not entirely revolutionized the world, his obsessive need to study the items, had even in some cases led to improvements that may not have even been thought of when the technology had originally been used. His obsessions over learning things, had even led to new things regarding the ninja arts to come about, during his travel with Jiraiya he had on several occasions located techniques, or even summoning contracts, thought lost to the world. Which led to the greatest friend the Summons had ever had, becoming the greatest ally, she was amazed, when word had spread through the thinly spread summon clans, of the lengths he sometimes went to, and the help he had provided, he had eventually ended up signed on to every summon contract, that they could come up with, Toad, Snake, Slug, Dog, Dragon, Cat, Waterfowl, Squirrel, Mongoose, Ferret, Hedgehog, Bear, the list seemed endless, and he was always letting them take shadow clones to help with labor issues on certain tasks, he had even gotten in good with the snakes, well good enough that he was too "troublesome to eat," which apparently made him the next head summoner, if they could prove proper breach of contract on Orochimaru's part, of course that also meant that outside of specific battle when they were called against each other the summons were experiencing a remarkable ceasefire, no more eating other summons children, and whatnot, Naruto's shadow clones were going crazy having to dig all those gestation pools. Until he disappeared, the most seal capable summons(Toads, duh), had not been able to find, or summon him, which meant they were being blocked, somehow using his chakra, and they couldn't send him help or find his location, also by his enormous chakra. The best trackers(Dogs), had only gotten a faint trail towards Iwa, and with their well known affiliation with Konoha, they didn't dare let sight of them be a danger to their ally. Haku had moved her own base of operations to a hotel room in Konoha, and was currently using her 'Spying Ice Mirrors," for one last desperate attempt to locate her master, when the fog lifted, as a door closed outside the Hokage's office of Konoha to reveal a figure much too small to be Naruto-sama surrounded by allies, she watched him fondly, before using one of the paper seals left to her to summon Gamakichi, and inform him of the good news, until upon turning back to her mirror she found that something terrible, had begun.

That awful Danzo character mouthed clearly into the mirror over Naruto-sama's tiny shaking shoulder, "Let this trial commence."

Those currently closest to Naruto, forming a protective ring between him, and a ridiculous amount of ANBU for a trial of a Kage, much less a Genin, were appalled at the actions of the greater part of the Council, both for their blatant dishonesty in dragging a recently returned captive in front of an illegal trial for desertion, and by the amount of raw hatred some members of the council were showing against one of the most loyal, and good-natured people they knew.

Though disgusted by the actions of the majority of the Council, the minority that was standing out as members of the opposite side, had a few exceptionally strange points to ponder as well. Inuzuka Tsume, was sitting in her council chair, backed by her daughter Hana, both in outfits oddly similar to the one worn by the woman who had just returned Naruto, outfits that Kiba had never seen that were matched by several notable figures around the room, and outfits that were certainly an embarrassing sight for the Chunnin to see his relations in, though under less serious circumstances he would have enjoyed the sight of the others in them, when he asked Naruto about the outfits, Naruto looked up from Hinata's now very damp coat only long enough to look even more terrified, before diving right back into the girls cleavage, and shaking like a leaf and trying desperately to stifle his crying. The outfits of all the interrupted retrieval party had been altered only by the symbol it bore, their world pools expanded from the center of Konoha Leafs, and they had at the center of that markings denoting clan, or in some case familial occupation, the beetle, paw print, bowl of noodles, and open book were not easy to see, but could be found on all of their uniforms, if sought. From what little they had heard before the arrival of the ANBU retrieval team, the remaining males, and through their brief explanations, females(and the younger counterparts surrounding the Konohamaru Corps, and Hyuuga Hanabi), were very happy of the presence of the uniforms, in altered states, though in some ways surprised, as the Unseated bearers of the uniforms approached their little knot of people centering around Naruto.

"Mom?" Haruno Sakura began, as she was approached by the attractive older woman with pink hair, "Isn't that, I mean, I thought you hated Naruto?" she asked feeling oddly confused.

"Anonymity," Shikamaru interrupted the woman earning a dirty look, "Sorry."

"He's right though," Kana told her daughter letting the annoyed look leave her face, as she faced her daughter, "We weren't entirely sure who the enemy was when Kushina-sama's family was killed, we couldn't let anyone even guess that Naruto-sama was the one we were protecting, whoever our enemy was they had been going after all of us from world pool that could have been from the Uzumaki line," she said sadly.

"But I could have, I mean we could have, helped, or told him, or you could have told me-," Sakura started, confused.

"All five of you girls should have been trained as Twisted Heart initially," Ayame continued, as Naruto shuddered violently, and dug into Hinata almost painfully, as she held him tighter, "However none of us counted on how much some of the teachers would sabotage Naruto-sama, he's really very intelligent in matters he's interested in," she smiled wryly, "We were able to maneuver him into the academy almost a year early, and he should have made it out before TenTen with proper instruction," she finished a little bitterly.

"Oh, come on, I'll buy mom being part of this, I'll even buy Hana's 'Secret Assassin Training,' but I've seen you, you're a civilian," Kiba gave Ayame an almost lewd once over.

"Stupid move Brother," Hana said stepping back, and shaking her head wryly, "She's sensitive about her cover."

"Binding Starch Restraints, Dough Whip," Ayame said quietly as she removed her hand from her weapon pouch, suiting her words to her actions as a whip made apparently entirely out of noodle dough shot forward, and hogtied Kiba.

"Ha, Akamaru, and I will eat our way out in no time, looks delicious," Kiba said mockingly. While Hana just lowered her head and shook it sorrowfully shooting Ayame an apologetic look.

"You shouldn't," she warned, before sighing as both Akamaru, and Kiba bit into the Chakra enhanced dough, only to become even more stuck by their mouths, everyone's attention only being drawn away, when the pointed voice of Danzou spoke.

"How does the criminal plead?" before all hell broke loose.

Haku came up with a plan as quickly as she could, she didn't know if it would work, and she had no way to know as she packed up her gear sealing it into a scroll, having obtained a description of his captor, she was apprehensive when she saw all those with similar uniforms through her mirror, and terrified when a sweep of the hall showed the Hokage, Naruto's captor herself, Mitarashi Anko, and Yuuhi Kurenai walking down the hall towards the council chambers, looking very resigned. She grabbed Gamakichi, and together they dropped through an ice mirror. It Begins.

Almost a thousand feet up Haku, and a screaming Gamakichi were caught as she finished her signs, summoning Tori-Oogata, and after asking Gamakichi to remain on the circling Swan Queen, she slipped through an ice mirror and was gone.

"Great Ice Spikes," the newcomer screamed, separating each individual person in the small knot surrounding Naruto-sama, and sliding down one of them, to grab him before leaping away.

"Attack, he's trying to escape, and get the girl, we'll have to find a suitable place to have someone with a bloodline like that serve probation," Danzou cackled to his ROOTS, as he pointed towards the escaping Haku, holding Naruto.

"I will not allow you to hurt Naruto-sama," her words stopped multiple quick acting people in the immediate area from attacking, and instead caused them to look outwards towards defense as Haku formed a mirror to travel through, getting a kunai through an artery in her lower leg, as she tried to escape, "Attacking Defense, Four Demon Ice Fortress!" she screamed, tearing her leg through the mirror, and leaving the kunai behind as it scraped off against the side of the mirror. Landing on Tori-Oogata, Haku was happy, she knew she wouldn't be able to escape, and survive with Naruto-sama, but he was now small enough to fit in Gamakichi's mouth, she shoved the terrified younger nin into his oversized mouth, "His memory seems damaged, please take him to Yukie, he may not take well to less familiar species surrounding him while he recovers," before dispelling Gamakichi's presence, and falling unconscious.

Tori-Oogata had a problem, Haku, besides being a strong ninja and capable ally was a good girl, and unconscious, and on her back, and she was quite high up, over presumably hostile territory, and low on chakra, so she did what she could, using the last of her chakra to release all her feathers at once causing her to dismiss herself, she intoned her technique, "Protective Cloud: Feather Release." Oh, well she thought, better, Haku-chan's life, than my dignity, she shivered as she looked for a robe in the massive valley that held the Waterfowl Clan.

Tsunade, Deanna, Kurenai, and Anko all entered the Council chambers just in time to watch Haku dive into her mirror, clutching Naruto like the most important package in the world, only to reappear out the window, and a thousand feet up onto the back of a giant swan flying overhead with a large toad on it's back. "Follow that Swan," she yelled before turning to the council, "Shizune, you stay here, and make a list, we've got some deadwood to trim," she leapt out the window, barely behind what had a moment before been a crowd surrounding Naruto directly, and a couple other, oddly dressed people from around the chambers. The toad was gone, but the Swan and girl kept going for another full minute, before the bird disappeared as well, leaving only it's feathers, and an unconscious girl falling headfirst towards the village below.

*For anyone who objects to Naruto's weird luck about summoning contracts or lost technology, tough, he's the main character, shit happens to him.


	4. Mr Toad Takes a Holiday

Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto, nor Hawaii, but make me an offer.

AN: I am going to at some point put in an omake/alternate chapter for this one , either labeled as such in this story, or as a one shot, depicting the full events of the video Princess Koyuki watched, it contains Naruto in a compromising way, it's something she's watched many times, and she was there when her friend taped it, regardless, she misses hearing from him, and is concerned because she knows he has been missing for a month, she is not aware of current circumstances however.

AN: Part 2: Sorry also before I forget for all you wonderful reviewers who were confused, I'm working on a problem a writing teacher had with me about giving too much exposition, outside of the story events, that is to say, explaining too much when it's not in the right place, I'm very sorry for your confusion, but hopefully parts of it will become clearer in nice easy to swallow chunks as the story continues, I want you to know I'm working on it though, and should it become necessary when I'm done I'll go back and insert explanations willy nilly, hope you like it anyways, cheers.

AN: Part III: Sorry, I took the idea of a ninja secondary academy for non-extraordinary from "Food For Thought," by 'RakeeshJ4' excellent story, I couldn't think of a cannon ninja that fit, so I thought why not give some grunts some excitement. ;P

Allied Nations, or Sanctuary for the Forsaken

Kazahana Koyuki was a busy woman, Daimyo to a country, one of the primary backers for a series of expeditions to recover lost technology, famous movie actress, even lately producer/director in her joint production company with her favorite ninja, not that he didn't do more than his share, and his assistant was an incredible asset in any business she'd seen her involved in, but she'd promised to go over some of his concept reels months ago, and she couldn't help but think that maybe if she did he'd show up, and this entire ordeal would turn out to be a nightmare, she wasn't helped at all by her feelings of guilt in the matter, she couldn't help but feel bad when what normally would have been a call with an update from Haku, or a visit from a summon with no news passed, and she didn't even notice, she was laughing so hard. Naruto's latest concept reel that she had gone through was four hours long, and consisted of something he'd dubbed 'Musical Video's' she had only watched with her two most trusted ladies, girls about her age that despite her absence had been raised with the thought of being her ladies in waiting in mind, probably the closest people she had to friends in all of Spring country. 'Of course Naruto wasn't in spring country,' she thought sadly, wondering again if she had somehow precipitated his capture. The Daimyo of the Land of Earth was a fan and had promised his full cooperation when she'd expressed a desire to take on the role of a Twisted Heart for her latest movie, though he couldn't guarantee her cooperation the soon to be retired Jounin he'd arranged to shadow Koyuki had opened up considerably in the six weeks she was there after hearing the name of Koyuki's co-investor in the script, she'd gone through every aspect of being an upper level Kunoichi for the entire time, then less than a month later… She'd contacted the Daimyo, and he'd seemed ignorant, if reluctant to discuss the matter, the Tsuichikage had been down right hostile, and even less official channels of her now retired object of study, and anyone she could get in touch with on that end had yielded even less information than the ass who led their ninja village.

'Maybe she should see if Konoha would be interested in a little ninja exchange when he gets back,' she thought lasciviously, 'A little detached diplomatic assignment, light duty for when he got back, he'd certainly need time to recover,' she thought solemnly remembering the skill of the women she had sought to imitate for her role, she was even wearing an initial mockup of the costume, identical to the uniforms of the women themselves save one key detail missing, of course with that part missing, she'd never wear it in a movie, of course, as a failed mockup she'd been able to keep it, not like you could alter the leather anyway, and she'd had an awful desire to see if wearing it for Naruto, with him 'tied down,' for detached duty of course, would make him get the point, or if it didn't perhaps she could get him to take a bite, her points would be hanging out anyway, she suppressed a little giggle, as her ladies looked at her strangely.

"Lady Koyuki," Yani said concerned, "Are you certain you're alright acclimating yourself to your costume under your day gown, in lew of your standard garments? You are turning alarmingly flushed, and you seem to be suffering from a nosebleed," Koyuki finally lost control and burst fully into giggles leaving her concerned companions to fret.

Gamakichi trusted Haku, he knew she wanted bro safe and sound, and he also knew that she was taking a pretty big risk staying behind, but he did have enough faith in the Pervert, and even his bro's Bachan, that he figured she'd be safe enough, for a while, especially when pops left the moment he arrived, and took his newly shrunken bro to be poked and prodded by the elders, he'd be strutting around like the head toad of wherever he is again in no time. Hopefully.

Koyuki had indeed decided that she was "too warm," continuing her rare day off by retiring to her own chambers, she had decided to forgo all her clothes in her bedchamber excepting only her aborted costume she was drawn into her own daydreams regarding the ninja that so thoroughly engaged her affections.

_Koyuki's Fantasy:_

_Poor boy, it hadn't been difficult at all to trick him, big spooky keep, she'd been a prisoner in the dungeon, and it still frightened her something awful sometimes. She was under the covers, until he fell asleep, it was a big bed, and the right conversation had done the trick beautifully, he didn't stir at all when the woman he was 'guarding' in his off hours slipped out of bed dressed only in the tight fitting red leather that had been the initial failure of the costume department for their latest collaboration, she certainly wouldn't wear it in the movie, it was ridiculous, her whole breasts jutted proudly from the open front, but oh how she longed to wear it for him._

_Her nipples tightened sharply at the thought, she imagined herself sneaking around his prone form, him snoring lightly, unaware of his coming fate, as she loosely, lovingly tied each silk rope around his wrists, securing each unmarked hand, she'd asked him about that once, he'd said he healed fast, but he'd been reluctant to tell her more, maybe she'd get her answers tonight, not a mark on him, that she'd seen, but maybe she could find some to see tonight, or make some._

_She began to feel the first trickle of moisture, a warming tingle beginning at the junction between her legs, as she slipped her hand down the front of the leather pants that matched her fantasy, gently probing herself, as she imagined waking her desired lover by licking his exposed collarbone, her nipples scraping gently up his body, as she cut open the front of his shirt._

_She started to gasp as her muscles began to tense, the pressure building, as she imagined herself standing over him as he gazed longingly at her swaying breasts, "Do you like it?" she asked teasingly, her hands sliding gently up her sides as she smirked at her 'victim.' "I think someone's been a bad boy," she said walking across the room, to a display of implements of discipline that once belonged to her uncle, a fitting end to his collection to have some fun she chuckled, her erstwhile lover of course could hardly concentrate at all, he was staring at her heart shaped ass, as she swayed across the room, drumming to some primal beat, back and forth, back and forth, his heart pounding wildly to that same beat as she turned around, meeting his gaze and holding an antique riding crop, both of their eyes alight with primal need, insatiable lust, unquenchable-_

"_LADY KAZAHANA!"_

_Haruka Amaya, was an average ninja, at best. She excelled in many things, and had been good friends with two girls, an Inuzuka, and an Aburame, that had been elite enough to get onto the elite placement status that were three man squads, what bothered her most about the situation though was that her other friend, a civilian who trained with all of them on most occasions , Ayame, seemed to outshine her too, she and a boy in her class probably would have made it onto a three man squad, had there been one more person, but for some reason Ayame wouldn't give up working in her father's ramen stand for anything, and it made her feel like a failure, one of her best friends was awesome at it, she just didn't want to be a ninja. The other two both were on elite squads, being sent where there was action and excitement, she had been pushed onto a twenty man grunt squad._

_At least she was still a ninja, and it wasn't terrible being away from the danger, but nothing interesting ever seemed to happen after they were there. A damn three man group of genin, led by the legendary Copy-Nin had liberated a freakin country, three Genin, and a Jounin, now her Twenty Chunin, Four Jounin, and two other groups of the same were just guarding the place. How was that fair?_

_Sure the Daimyo was nice, until one of the Jounin mentioned his distaste for the blond Genin, she'd been asking about, but she didn't let that carry over to the rest of us, and she'd seemed very grateful for the help, even though she was paying personally for the service._

_On one of the rare occasions she'd gotten the chance to talk to the woman, she'd asked what the deal was with the blond was, "Uzumaki Naruto, hmm," she sighed contemplatively, "We've made lot's of deals," she giggled, leader of her country, and she giggled, before growing serious, "First he gave me hope back, and then," she trailed off thoughtfully, "Then he started giving me help."_

_Amaya wasn't sure what she meant but the name sounded familiar, "Blond, wears 'Kill Me,' orange all the time?" she asked, speculatively._

"_He's so cute isn't he?" Koyuki asked squeeling, "And so determined." Amaya rolled her eyes a little that apparently another woman she was going to be around was obsessed with the blond she had never even met._

_She hadn't really paid too much attention to the older woman's slightly out of breath answers to her few questions until she had mentioned summons, she had heard rumors that the boy had for some reason or another been accepted as a summoner on the legendary Toad Contract, but she contradicted the woman when she began insisting that he had been employing other summons for various purposes as well. Everyone knew that you could only have one summoning contract, and they would only allow two people to sign at once, that was one of the three reasons they were so rare._

"_What are the three reasons again KUNOICHI-SAN?" Koyuki asked with a decided glint in her eye._

"_Simple, the reasons are," she listed, "One," she cleared her throat before taking the vaguely academic tone, who's merits had made her a shin obi cut reluctantly rather than a good experiment in trimming deadwood, "Animal Shinobi Summons, known colloquially as nin-animals, are strong, intelligent animals of different types, and classes that have over time arranged themselves into clans, each clan under a nominative leader, or council, and each clan, that we know of, through the use of chakra, and seals over the generations have subjected themselves, and their native homes to the usage of or by summoning contracts, I. e. Summon contracts, tied to their line, which, as per arranged agreement, allow them a certain amount of leeway regarding-"_

"_So reason one, is that without enormous benefit of some sort, a clan of summons, would be too proud to either accept a summoner that was involved with a rival, allied, or enemy clan, feeling it would reflect poorly on their power or honor?" Koyuki asked with a slight smile of the stuffy chunin._

"_Yes," she replied slightly miffed, "And reason two, is that-"_

"_Reason two, is that they would not wish to fight against members of their own clan, so generally summon contracts are passed down on the human side, one by one, through bonds of extreme trust," her smile grew larger at the frustration on the younger woman's face._

"_Three is that their so rare," Amaya finished quickly, sticking out her tongue playfully, "So there," before she clapped her hands over her mouth, and looked at her employer in shock._

"_See you can be succinct," Koyuki smiled, "and less stuffy, he also makes me smile a lot when he's around, in case you're wondering," she smirked a little before gesturing for the Kunoichi to continue._

"_Anyways you see by all these reasons, he couldn't have more than one summoning contract, do you understand, after all, he's only a Genin?" she said calmly, feeling a little silly about her outburst._

"_You know," Koyuki said changing tactics, "It must be amazing to have summons, your own personal slaves at your beck and call, cannon fodder to take a hit for you at the last minute, I don't know how other ninja would make up the difference?" she hinted._

"_I don't know what you mean, Summons, are powerful, incredible, and useful beings that share a kinship through their contracts and relationships with shin obi," Amaya said heatedly._

"_So they're comrades in arms?" Koyuki asked pointedly._

"_Well not in the same way as other shin obi, maybe?" Amaya said uncertainly._

"_Maybe to some shin obi they're more like friends and family?" Koyuki acquiesced, quietly turning to leave, "Think about it," and Amaya did._

"_Family?"_

"_Well, if you start out alone, you might appreciate having others around a little more, and eventually others might appreciate having you around a little more." Koyuki reiterated slyly, "Build one ten million galleon gestation pond, and suddenly everyone who catches wind is perfectly willing to give you all the leeway their pride can handle, Ja Ne?" "I guess I can see why they wouldn't want to give up that kind of advantage, but."_

"_Not advantage, assistance, help, he doesn't try to curry favor, he's just happy to help." She noticed the doubtful cast in her erstwhile guards eyes, "Think about it."_

_Amaya had thought about that conversation for over a month, passing the midpoint of the three month assignment for her and her team, she supposed that being that grateful for any friends or family at all might be a powerful incentive to induce the summons to befriend him, especially if he was really that good a friend to have. Of course Koyuki's case wasn't hurt in the slightest when suddenly a giant toad had appeared before her when she was doing a 'walking patrol,' around the grounds, and had turned panicked at seeing her forehead protector before spitting out a small blond boy, and whipping off his giant vest to wrap the child in, more like a tent than a towel, before turning back to the startled chunnin, "Can you point me to Kazahana Koyuki, I'm a huge fan," he said not missing a beat, "I'd really love an autograph," he said picking up the obscured child with his tongue before looking at Amaya promptingly._

"_She's been really anxious, since she heard about Uzumaki-san, she'll be really excited, if you have news, or him, but I can't imagine why Lady Tsunade would send him here of all pla-" as soon as Amaya turned to lead the giant toad to Koyuki, she found herself wrapped quite securely in the surprisingly long tongue._

"_Slarry, if yurll furdy, bud, no tagen changes, by brah innt wahl." the toad said, hopping in the direction Amaya had indicated before her subsequent capture. 'Sorry if you're friendly, but no taking chances, my bro isn't well.' She didn't understand why he was toting a five-year-old blond kid, or how they were 'brothers,' but she understood in theory, she was not happy at all about the sliming, but she understood in theory._

_The girl was dropped a thousand feet straight down head-first, and unconscious, even for a ninja she was dead if she hit, she caught on the feathers, that were sticking together by the departed Swan's released chakra, slowing her slightly, she was drifting slightly backwards towards the pursuing Ninja's, Tsunade, proving the title Sannin once again, managed to slap the ground hard enough to drive herself into the falling Kunoichi, catching her, and would have ended up in a bad position herself, if it hadn't been for Jiraiya's quick summoning of an incredibly irate Gamabunta, and the laters decision to lend his tongue to the cause anyway, rolling his eyes the toad boss took his charges to the window of his favorite Gaki's usual hospital room, he set the three in leaving the rest to find their own way back, with the ominous, "I saw the Gaki, Kichi gave me a report, and although I didn't expect to be the one to deliver the message," he looked pointedly at Jiraiya, "Konoha, is not receiving any more assistance from the Great Clans, until Naruto's situation is cleared up to our satisfaction, You've Been Warned!"_

_Even with two very real, and very lethal injuries, including her chakra exhaustion, it didn't take Tsunade very long at all to stabilized, even bringing her near consciousness, before her fevered muttering about saving "Naruto-Sama," convinced the Slug Sannin that Naruto probably wasn't in enough danger to risk losing the girl._

_As assistant to the Hokage, and ultimately first apprentice, Shizune knew more about the operation of Konoha than most, probably more than Tsunade-sama regarding most aspects of village operation. She was an excellent administrator, and even took pride in her skill at keeping the vast amount of paperwork needed in the running of a successful ninja village organized, and running smoothly. That having been said, regardless of her current duties, or her usual kind gentle demeanor, Shizune was a Kunoichi through and through, specializing in battle techniques that involve poison, needles, and being a med nin meant that she could kill just as easily as she could save, even if people tended to forget that just because she didn't favor the strength techniques of Tsunade, didn't mean she wasn't formidable in her own right. Of course the fact that she was left in the council chambers to sort out the root of the problem, with only the unlikely seeming allies of Hyuuga Hiashi, Aburame Shibi, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Chouza, and Shikaku Nara, with only her allies seeming to realize the danger she might represent, Kind, Gentle, Peaceable Shizune slowly boiled over, as the discussion of how to 'deal' with her otouto continued, developing a pronounced tic over her left eye, as she considered the most painful ways to kill the oblivious councilors._

_That complete demon damned fucker, damn him a thousand times, and a thousand more, she didn't know what that soulless motherfucker sacrificed, but the Shinigami definitely didn't have his soul, because he was a COMPLETE FUCKER, and he didn't have one, that vicious, heartless, soulless bastard. He was utterly ruthless, and She would bet eight tails that wherever the hell he was looking from he was laughing at her, laughing at her being fucked by his shoddy damn plan, being screwed over by his stupid damn luck. That's what it was too, he didn't know about his wife's Kekkai Genkai, and he certainly couldn't have known about his son getting it, and even knowing about it she couldn't fucking do anything. She was in love with a madman, an insane child, and she couldn't do anything about it._

_It was definitely better than the cage in a sewer, she was willing to admit that, she didn't like to think of what it seemed to be based on, she hadn't really paid any attention to his archeological hobby, (as impressed as she wouldn't admit that she was with his ingenuity) but she had definitely noticed the similarity that her new digs bared to the Barbie Dream House found with one of his biggest discoveries to date. She wasn't sure if she should be annoyed that he was able to force her back into the seal at will, scared at how easy it had been, angry at his pity, or flattered that he seemed to have decided to adopt some kind of affection for her._

'_Of course,' she preened a bit as she thought, 'Fine Vixen that I am, I'm surprised he didn't fall all over me from the first, he was probably too young,' she preened again, stretching her spiritual body in a way that seemed exceptionally strange for the human form she had decided to remain in, straightening clothes that in her time in, 'Vicky's Dream House,' had become more and more loosely contained within the definition of clothing, she even considered it, maybe not comfortable, but certainly it was an interesting feeling, the thin covering over her lower portions made her think of Naruto, after it was misaligned, she only had a minute to consider that thought before two things interrupted her consideration. The sudden spikes of terror that shot through her erstwhile host, (and of course when she chose to force the issue soon to be lover), and the fact that his fright had been enough to drive any thoughts of holding her in place entirely from his focus, 'Alright,' she thought straightening her posture, trying to regain her detachment, even if only in her own omnipresent and ultimate confidence, 'Redemption time.' Kyuubi No Kitsune, Naruto's little pet Vicky, shot out of the seal taking just enough chakra for her own variant of the infamous Kage Bunshin No Jutsu._


	5. Can Toads CryThe Makings of Stone Soup

Disclaimer: Look Behind you it's the Naruto I own!

Psych, Bitches, Psych!

AN: If anyone was offended by my disclaimer, I'm a little sorry, mostly amused, but a little sorry. Anyways, Trinity the Kitsune Kunoichi, gets a cookie for the guess, and if anyone doesn't want spoilers, don't read the reviews, trying to work that character/characters out was one of the long delays, hopefully I can remain intact from now on though. And I'm not starting any new stories right now, posting wise, but what does anyone think of me posting my first chapters that I have as I write them, if anyone thinks that's a good idea feel free to drop a line, and if anyone wants to take them as a challenge, or post them as a challenge, tell me about your stories, I'll offer coo-dous, and we can compare notes.

Gamakichi usually considered himself his 'bro's' best friend, certainly if Naruto was going for a particular summon, or just looking for someone to hang out with he was the one most commonly called, and to be fair about the situation, they definitely had each other's backs, Naruto seemed uncomfortable with the idea of getting to know his sisters better, so Gamakichi had something to ask them, when it was time for Naruto to make his getaway, and likewise when he'd made the mistake of mentioning Pinkie's apelike monster strength, Naruto'd protected him from the monster, as soon as Gamakichi says something wrong in front of her it's, "But Sakura-Chan, he's just a kid." and shortly thereafter there's a slightly calmer pinky standing around. So they definitely had each other's backs, which meant that his complete and utter panic at a puddle of blood shooting out of Naruto's body, and growing into a human-like version of the Freakin Kyuubi no Kitsune formed looking pretty ragged, and crouching menacingly over his shrunken form, he hadn't given it another thought, he had flung the princess, and the Kunoichi across the room onto a fluffy couch, drew his wakizashi's, and tried to grab bro with his tongue, only to have it grabbed easily by the, 'woman,' with one hand before she slung it to the side, stinging him fiercely, "Well, you're not even the big one, this is a thoroughly disappointing betrayel," she placed her careworn looking tail around Naruto protectively, "Well try it, I'm not letting anyone hurt Naruto-Sama anymore!" she completely disregarded the giant toad in favor of keeping herself between her proclaimed, 'Lord,' and Koyuki, mustering a truly pathetic amount of KI, and looking much less confident than she had when facing Gamakichi.

Gamakichi had just enough time to be surprised before he became indignant, "We'd never betray my bro," he advanced only to be batted back easily by a tale, not even drawing the demon's gaze, "And what do you care anyway demon?" he said viciously trying to come up with a plan, and avoid panicking. Or maybe he was more badass than he thought, he was facing the strongest of the Bijuu, and they, 'she?,' seemed scared. And was almost completely ignoring him.

"Yeah, you didn't betray him, you bring him back to one of them," she snapped an accusing glare at the toad, "And of course I care, I finally get the chance to get a little closer, and all this-" she snapped her full attention back to Koyuki who was getting back up, "Stay back, you can't get me, she already got me, and I won't let you hurt Naruto-Sama!" she yelled at the princess backing further towards Naruto.

Koyuki didn't understand what was going on, a woman in a thong, with nine tails just formed out of Naruto's blood, and was apparently trying to protect him from her, her, she looked down at herself, finally realizing that she was only wearing the scrapped costume, and quickly becoming both mortified, and maroon, before backing back to the couch she had just left and grabbing a cushion, and covering herself with it. "I suppose that answers the question of whether the Twisted Hearts had captured you," she said rhetorically. Finally looking into the blonde child's eyes, and recognizing Naruto, curiously shrunken, and cowering away and breathing quickly enough that anyone but a ninja would have already hyperventilated. She made her way over to a dressing-gown before turning back to assess the situation more fully. Anaya, was standing rigid in some fighting stance, and shaking like a leaf tears streaming down her face, Naruto was curled up on the floor like he was trying to hide, and both Gamakichi, and the woman seemed puzzled, and cautious.

Mistress Deanna had told him to be quiet, she had told him to stay there, she had told him to go with the pretty girl with the blue hair, then the bad people had started saying things about him, he didn't know what had happened, but he hadn't betrayed anyone. And she wasn't there, all the other times when she'd sent him, or let one of her friends… She'd been there, or she'd told him, and he was worried, what if he'd done something wrong, what if she didn't want to teach him anymore, he couldn't do anything without her, but he was supposed to do what any Mistress said, but, but, she was getting ready, she had almost started ready, but she'd stopped, and he didn't know what to do, he couldn't do, that, not if Mistress Deanna didn't give him permission, but she'd punish him if he disobeyed, and Vicky got out, and he had to stop her, she was going to get hurt again, and he didn't want anyone to get hurt, he just wanted people to stop hurting, and Vicky was pretty helpless against Mistress Deanna and others, she only had chakra to rely on and they took that from them. With a great effort he summoned his monumental will, and forced his pet, 'Vicky,' the Kyuubi no Kitsune, into a baby fox kit who he picked up in his arms, and nuzzled, petting her in a reassuring fashion.

"Bro?" Gamakichi tried to get the attention of the one holding the most powerful demon in existence like a naughty pet. It almost broke his heart when his best friend turned to him with blank stare shivering and scared, before shooting a glance at Koyuki, he looked down and opted not to reply, going back to stroking the Kyuubi.

All in all it was less than an hour and a half from the moment the entire group had jumped out the window in pursuit of Naruto, and his rescuer, and when a deathly calm Hokage reconvened in the council chambers, next to a steaming Shizune, and backed by a significant number of ninja, and 'real' ANBU.

"Ah, good, Tsunade Hime, you've returned, the majority of us on the council, almost all of us who remained behind, have been discussing what to do about the traitor," the female advisor, Homura began slyly, "Your assistant has been no help however we have decided on the disposition we'll adapt towards his accomplice, we've determined that if we frame it as though she was brainwashed by the traitor, she's obviously a powerful Kunoichi, and with her bloodline, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that we could probably use her as the prize to lure the last Uchiha back, to 'restart' his clan. I'm sure he'll be happy to return once we've disp-" As the disparate majority of the council had grown more and more smug, everyone else in the room had begun to notice a startling trend, even as they underwent the trend themselves. They were getting angry, these people had apparently betrayed the rights and responsibilities of their position, and home, and it would not stand.

They had once been proud Kunoichi, now they were smarter, and were abject servants of Naruto-Sama, and Hakusama, they wanted to become his body servants, but Hakusama had forbidden them from approaching the matter with him on their own, and hadn't brought it up yet. When he had gone missing they had dutifully taken over Hakusama's workload and kept the business concerns of their master well taken care of in her increasing absence, when a small duck had arrived with the message that she was probably captured, by Konoha of all groups the gnawing fear of the last month, had finally erupted into full blown panic, and then icy calm, the resources of the Great Hero Ramen Company were at their disposal, and there were rescues to be made…


	6. What do you mean Mokuton is Genetic?

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd have a comic that people read, sadly both are untrue.

Chapter Six: The Bare Bones of the Matter.

When the two Kunoichi had approached her she had tried to decline payment for running things, it was Naruto-kun's company after all, and she'd actually grown quite fond of Haku, especially all things considered, but they had said that he would be upset if he felt they had taken advantage of her. It was an obscene amount of money, of course it was an obscene amount of work as well, she had needed to bring in Inari, her father, and several others, and all of them were still being paid a ridiculous amount for coordinating the affairs of this company, even without being able to utilize some of the advantages that the ninja's usually used an insane amount of money was being made, and circulated, what seemed like an endless stream of summons were dropping by, and helping to run things. It was overwhelming, but the whole operation had been operating six months to a year ahead when Narutokun had disappeared, slowing to what was apparently a trickle of activity that she was watching over, it was mind-boggling, even with how prosperous Wave had become since Gato had been removed she could barely imagine the figures she was working with, and that was with the entire company seemingly operating on standby, crazy.

Captured wasn't the right word, her sacrifice had almost been a success, her left arm had rotted off her body, if her former master's Sensei hadn't stopped the Jutsu she would have ended up like her teammates, soul gone, and dead to feed a madman's unjustifiable quest for vengeance. She also believed her Mistress entirely about the difficulty faced in keeping her alive after her 'corpse' had been retrieved from Konoha. She had even admitted freely to some vague ideas of using her to allow Narutosama to meet the Fourth Hokage, that she had abandoned upon discovery of her continued survival. Freezing her arm, amputating, and stopping the rest from rotting off, before slowly bringing her out of it had been easy. She hadn't even given the entire process a second thought slipping out with her body after discreetly helping repel the invasion of her Master's home, Hakusama had after her recovery had left the decision to Narutosama what to do with her. His mercy had shocked her. When later the same options were given to the oppositely crippled Tayuya, she had convinced her to do everything she could to become useful to Narutosama, but it hadn't even seemed to matter, when after about a month, Hakusama had decided she had learned enough with the help of some incredible seal work to attach arms she had from a preserved body she had retrieved from Tayuya's mission. Massive amounts of Narutosama's chakra stored in seals, and purified by Hakusama, and an oddly cold but painless surgery or two later, and they had been given the arms of Kaguya Kimimaro.

When he had been alive Tayuya had both respected and feared Kimmimaro, it had been incredible to learn that her transplanted arm had given her his Kekkai Genkai, and apparently because of Narutosama's chakra being used to accelerate their recovery, it had spread throughout their bodies entirely. If she had gone back to Orochimaru, the best she could have hoped for with only one arm was a quick death, more likely she would have become an experiment.

Gaining Shikotsumyaku, had made her consider all of that, the twinge of her curse seal though had confirmed it, she was completely and totally Narutosama's creature now, and with the seal twisting her mind she couldn't be trusted. She had run away from Hakusama, and Kinchan, she eventually found Narutosama eating complimentary ramen at a gambling parlor in the red-light district of a shipping town while waiting for his Sensei to return. She had begged him for some task, some way to prove herself, and die, or prove herself, and then die, before she could turn back to Orochimaru. When he had berated her for her language, she had taken it to heart. She now had the cleanest vocabulary anywhere. When he had said that they wouldn't let that happen, she had wanted to believe him. He ordered her to come back in a week and he had been able to seal the mark contingent on her own will, from that moment on her willpower was the toughest steel.

She hadn't dared to hope for a final solution, but from the moment he accepted her so fully, Tayuya had had hope, she had been his willing servant when she approached him begging for her own death, and some honor. Now she was his pet, his slave anything, he could have been a god to her, and she would have worshiped him and he had gone on to save her further, several months after his training journey ended a clone showed up that was different, it had eyes that looked like a toad, and had an ancient looking little toad with it. Narutosama's clone had explained the idea, and the risks, she was ready to beg, but she merely agreed, he gave her a container of oil, she stripped and kneeled rubbing it generously over her body, he started feeding the chakra into her, it was being held back by her curse mark, until it burst like a dam. If the old Toad hadn't hit her with his stick she would have been the most loyal worshipping toad in the world for him. Now however she was just his, she had even exchanged notice with another Kunoichi that seemed to work for Narutosama as well, it had happened the same way for her, and Kinchan, and Hakusama. They were to be his, under any terms, through any means. Which meant that first they had to rescue his property, Mistress Haku could then guide them, and if they needed to this Konan-chan seemed formidable, and seemed to be Narutosama's too. They would do whatever it took.

She was mostly relieved, whatever had happened her Narutokun was alive, and free. She could deal with this, he didn't seem like he was lucid enough to have escaped, if Hakuchan had gotten him out but gotten captured then someone would need to rescue her, she'd have to make some calls Iwagakure might be more willing to let Haku go than they had been forthcoming of Naruto. Gamakichi obviously knew something, but with how he was treating Amaya, he obviously feared letting her know about Naruto's location. Someone in Konoha betrayed Naruto's group before, and if he'd been welcomed back with open arms then it was obvious that someone would have already been ousted. The Fire Lord had nothing against Naruto, but someone, not necessarily the original traitors, but someone with an agenda had convinced him that expending manpower for a Genin was a waste, with the exercising of authority to block his advancement someone had been planning this for a while.

All of which meant she was in a rapidly heating pot politically, and she still didn't care. "Amaya, I am currently your client, do you agree?" After receiving a nod, and then a blush from the still shaking and tense girl when she had gained her notice she continued, "How would Genin, Uzumaki Naruto's presence affect you in regards to any client confidentiality clauses you might be under as per terms of your employment?"

"Orders have been received regarding contact with former Genin Uzumaki Naruto, he was declared AWOL officially, prior to that orders were given that upon contact he be taken to the Hokage with all possible expediency," she stated hesitantly, "While the orders were taken as legitimate, I don't personally offer any opinion regarding the "TRIAL," of an absent Genin under these circumstances. That having been said, if I were to come in contact with former Genin Uzumaki Naruto, I would be forced to report his presence to my superiors, and/or attempt capture and/or retrieval, to face the findings of the Council of Konohagakure no Sato, as led by Senju Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage." she glanced pointedly at the terrified-five-year-old looking blonde, who was still petting the little vulpine, crying and shuddering, in presumedly imagined pain.

"Yani!" Koyuki yelled feeling a pang when she saw how much she scared Narutokun.

"Lady Kazahana?" her most trusted Lady entered eying the tableau in front of her.

"You know my-," Koyuki hesitated searching for the right lie to give Amaya plausible deniability.

"Ward?" at Lady Kazahana's nod she quickly continued, "Of course my Lady. Would you like me to stay with him while you change into more appropriate receiving clothes?" Even with no change of tone, her disapproval of Koyuki's state of undress was clear.

"Of course, events just took me by surprise, Gamakichi's arrival with my, ward was completely unexpected."

"Naru-," Koyuki corrected herself, "Narukun, black hair, no facial markings, green eyes," following a terrible hunch she had made herself seem slightly annoyed, gaining a seemingly frantic obedience, "Now, go with Yani, and obey her as you would me." He left with her Lady, shaking in fear and carrying the Kyuubi no Kitsune, her voice almost cracked when she called after them, "Yani, don't take him out of my suite!" she turned to Amaya, still being watched by Gamakichi, "Do you understand?" Amaya nodded, "Good, you may enter my suite, as of now you are the only member of my retained ninjas with that priviledge, something frightened my ward, please inform your superiors, I would like you to return for my protection, I would like everyone else to begin searching the valleys surrounding the royal holdings for unauthorized forces, have them be thorough." Another nod.

He'd never been sent with someone who wasn't a Mistress from a bedchamber before, did he do something wrong, he had to keep holding Vicky back, but what should he do? He was supposed to do what she said, this was new, they were playing some game with him, and if there was one thing that his Mistress had taught him it was that new games hurt, a lot. His thought process caused him to squeeze Vicky all the harder as he trembled, and there wasn't anything he could do, she'd stop him from escaping, and it would only get worse for him, he didn't cry, but he couldn't help the tears that streamed down his face as he followed the woman.

She didn't know what was going on, just that she was in a hospital room, and someone was alive, not great but alive. "Bmp-bmp," well she wouldn't tell them where Narutosama was, Koyuki would watch out for him. She would keep things low profile, start hiring from Suna instead. If he ever got over being betrayed he'd recover, she couldn't think of anyone more resilient than Narutosama, maybe she'd even escape someday, any summon she'd ever heard of would be avoiding Konoha at this point, if they could convince the Inuzuka dogs to lay off she'd have a chance, but she had to rest first, get some strength back, before they bound her chakra, or something.

"Already planning your grand escape Hunter-nin san?" a calm voice asked from beside her bed. Suddenly the machine was beating a lot faster, the copy-nin was guarding her, and he wasn't alone.

"Calm down Hakusan," the pink haired Kunoichi sitting beside the silver-haired Jonin started to get up, "Tsunade shisho, and I had a tough enough time patching you up, not that we're not looking for other things, I for one am amazed that you're alive at all, I'm sure Tsunadesama wonder's about it too, since I know she read some of the mission reports from back then," she said content to talk as she checked the machines, and statistics of her patient, "I'd be perfectly content to just know where you sent my missing teammate myself, but…" her voice gained an edge, as she came to face the prone Kunoichi, appearing as though she was going to advance on the injured young woman.

"You can torture me, or kill me, no matter what you do I will not betray Narutosama!" Haku stated firmly drawing herself up as much as she could glaring Sakura straight in the eye.

"Sakura, stand down, in fact why don't you see how Tsunade-sama is dealing with things in the Council Chambers," it was not a question.

"But she knows, she knows where he is and she won't-" he cleared his throat.

"Now, Sakura," he sat back down in the chair next to the young woman who had yet to move, whom she had never met as a possible opponent. "Will he be safe?" he asked after Sakura had made her way out of the room.

"Naruto-sama will be safe with trusted, and respected allies," was the reply of the Ice-Kunoichi, after a short examination seemed to prove the Jonins honest sentiment. She was met with two relieved sighs, and a slow nod.

"Well, as long as he's safe, how is it you survived your injuries?" he asked sheepishly, almost mirroring the intermittent posture of his waylayed student. "If you don't mind my asking, and weren't you a boy?"

"I believe I'd be well suited to help answer that," Senju Tsunade stood in the doorway observing the people of the room carefully, "It's nice to see you again Haku-chan, I take it that Naruto is your mysterious benifactor?" she chuckled at the irony.

"Naruto-sama will always be my master, and lord if he will have me," Tsunade upon noticing Kakashi's growing curiosity, and impatience chuckled, trying to think of how to begin the story, when she was interrupted by her own patient.

"My survival is due entirely to Naruto-samas care and intervention," Haku said solemnly, "and Lady Tsunade, and Lady Shizune's medical skills." She finished more quietly, before beginning the story of her survival, knowing she'd be hard-pressed to escape even if only Kakashi were present, let alone Tsunade, and the other young woman.

While her Shadow Clone had gone to be present when her patient awoke the real Senju Tsunade was holding herself, and ironically Shizune back from slaughtering the majority of the Council. Her hands rested on the table her grandfather had grown upon the founding of Konoha, harder than steel, and still alive, she felt like it was a barely restrained animal reacting to her anger, she almost felt like she could feel what he had felt when using his Wood-release, as the energy oscilated through her body, rising and falling, swelling like great waves, as she tried breath deeply, and not slaughter them outright, digging her hands into the table instinctively with each twitch like soft clay.

"I'm sure he'll be happy to return after we've disposed of the demon," Homura continued, apparently oblivious to what seemed likely to be her own death, when something happened that shocked everyone present. The Great Table, one of the proudest artifacts of Konohagakure sprang into action in the already damaged Council Chamber, flinging arms out to attack the members of the Council that had been involved in the recent travesties. All the civilians were caught flat-footed, and immediately entrapped, two minor clan heads were encased almost effortlessly, and the former teammates of the Third Fire Shadow were little more challenge for the rampaging table, however upon reaching for Danzo, it seemed to slow down, and struggle against him for a moment, before continuing towards him. For his part Danzo upon loosing the battle of wills with the table passed out entirely, blood leaking from his ever present bandages. It was upon a cursory inspection to make certain he wasn't dead that a stolen Sharingan was discovered beneath the bandages on his face. She was about to sedate the organ thief for the dispensation of justice, when he was suddenly replaced by a nondescript ANBU, with a mark for NI on their mask.

It was moments later when the first people broke the silence, coincidently both Clan Head, and Son of the Nara Clan, "Troublesome."


	7. What's Love Got to do with it?

Me me me meeeeeeee: I don't own Harry potter or it's subsidiaries, or indeed anything you recognize, or remember seeing elsewhere, or my whole car, or my home, I own my watch until they decide it's valuable enough to take in lieu of cash for my student loans.

Still looking for a good beta of course, be they fish or fowl or fine red herring.

I think I'm going to end up skipping marvel for the most part in favor of dc, just because I like how neatly some of the characters enter the fold, not really sure what the final count will be should be fun though.

AN: I not only own nothing, I paraphrased the song Magic, by B.O.B.

Fun Facts about Veela's, or An Important Lesson.

Ginny Weasley had never really thought of herself as an ordinary girl, by wizarding standards, and certainly not by muggle standards. After her bushy headed friends crash course on what they would need to do to Arithmantically to ground Harry Potters magical core however, she was thinking again.

"_Alright, we all know that from a purely geometrical standpoint those with some, or complete creature blood are more magically grounded, what might not be as evident with the lack, of extreme examples available, is that at least one female with dominant characteristics of magical creature genetic heritage," the brown headed scholar had begun nervously, straightening her spine she stepped forward, just in time for the mingling of her voice among many, _

"_I'll do it"_

"_I can,"_

"_I'd be happy to,"_

"_Anything,"_

"_Of course,"_

"_Oui, of course,"_

"_Of course we'll"_

"_I'll bring the whipped-" was the point when everyone in the room turned to the one who appeared to be the youngest of those gathered. "What?" the young veela said petulantly, before regaining her seat, "I can't have imagination before I have breasts?"_

"_What's she even doing here, she can't possibly be in the running to help with this, she's like eight-years-" Victoria Frobisher, an almost third year was cut off before she could really build up a head of steam._

"_Seize, ans, je suis seize," the frustrated Gabrielle shot through clenched teeth not noticing the general confusion her statement caused, she was cut off by her sister without further ado._

"_My sister would, if she were calm enough to remember her English," she shot the huffy, unrepentant girl a sharp look, would have pointed out that she is sixteen, and shortly to be seventeen."_

"_That's crazy, I can't believe-," a Marietta Edgecombe who had been until now silent gathered a fair share of dirty looks, "She doesn't look sixteen." She finished sullenly._

"_Stop!" Hermione called for order, "We can workout the details later for now is there anyone else with creature blood, that can help?" When every female hand save her own was raised tentatively into the air, Ginny began her reevaluation._

"What?" Ginny looked around in confusion at the girls looking around at each other in wonder, and her twin brother, and Neville looking around in bemusement.

"I'll start," Katie Bell broke the silence rather quickly as it had quickly become awkward, "Angelina, Alicia, would it be easier if I just included the two of you when I-" at their encouraging smiles she went on, "As you all may know when I was a second year I was accepted onto the Quiddich team with barely any tryout, and it looked like the three of us had been flying together for years, which we had been, we aren't actually related, but our clans keep in contact, I, Angelina, and Alicia are all part Aswang, well technically we're part of the group known as Aswang, although Angelina and I are probably more closely related to Veela than most Aswang, as the two of us actually share the feminine traits of transformation, regarding three different types of birds," without further preamble, she transformed into a rather cute canary of disproportionate size.

"I always knew Katie was a cute bird-" began Fred.

"I never would have guessed about her feathers being naturally blonde though," George finished seamlessly.

"As you can see," Katie continued after changing back, "Although we share in human form some of the more extreme sexually dimorphic traits as Veela and other magical species, my own transformative state aside from being very conspicuous, is rather less useful, and I have neither fireballs, nor the defensive/offensive presence of the Veela allure to aid me."

"Extreme sexually dimorphic traits?" Hermione asked curious.

"I've yet to share, so," Angelina turned into the smallest cutest penguin anyone had ever seen, before returning to a state that allowed for understandable speech, "The majority of magical creatures that can mix with muggles, and wizards have extremely sexually dimorphic traits, in general the males are without discernable differences from regular wizards, or muggles with the exception of things that would have been altered by their upbringing, for example, my older brother shows no differences between himself, and most wizards, except a marked enjoyment of sushi, that few wizards in the UK share, whereas aside from my transformation, and any point between my current state, and my transformation into the form of a little blue penguin, due in part to the fundamental differences between how humans develop and how magical penguins develop, I am, as well as Katie, and Alicia, and if I had to guess each girl with creature blood here extremely strong, comparative to relative size/weight ratios, anyway," she finished awkwardly.

"What does that mean?" Fred said.

"Extremely strong, relatively?" George finished.

Glad the less reasonable brother had left the room, it was Alicia who answered, after turning into a large flying squirrel and back for the edification of the others in the room, "Humans are overall as far as strength, and speed, extremely lowly placed in the animal kingdom, on average per pound of muscle, animals get, or can get six or seven times the amount of strength into use, now that doesn't sound like much, but imagine, that someone was built exactly like me, and she was purely human, she could probably with a great deal of strain lift up one hundred pounds, being as the creature blood we have is magical, the difference is even more profound, inherited traits from magical creatures would put the average strength at about twelve times that of a similarly made up human, or wizard, according to my mom anyway."

"Hermione?" Ginny started, still dazed, "I thought you were muggleborn?"

"I had a little accident during second year with some poly-juice potion," she looked away, "We were trying to prove Malfoy was opening the chamber of secrets, and a cat hair activated some recessive genes, my parents don't know where it's from, but I've been researching, I'm a Neko," she transformed quickly into a small brown housecat, " I actually have a fairly broad transformative range, but I have to take a numbing potion for my tail, or it gets really twitchy-" she looked extremely embarrassed, blushing furiously, "I didn't mean to share that, but since most of us here are going to be sharing a mate."

"Hermione," Fleur interrupted, "I know you will not find any information in the libraries you might have access to," Hermione looked at the French girl a little annoyed, "I don't mean that your libraries aren't perfectly acceptable, it is just how you say, extremely cache information, even in the great library of my Grand mere's coven, it is passed only from the lips of one to the ears of another. If the situation were not so urgent, I would not even divulge it to you now, but if indeed Harry is to be saved, it may be important."

"There is a dark and terrible opposite to the allure of the Veela, though none of you share the allure in a useable form, it is something that you still hold within you," she began as the others in attendance gathered around. "First do you know how the first of the Veelas and other human like magical creatures came to be?" Upon seeing the confusion and denial of the girl who had called the meeting, the beautiful blond seemed to settle into herself, like she was recounting a favorite fairy tale.

"Many centuries ago, when wizards and witches were first learning about magic they sometimes noticed something terrible, the most powerful among them, if isolated, unbound to woman, elf, or familiar would begin to grow less coherent, less in control of themselves, the father of a great wizard whose name is lost in time, began to realize what was happening to his heir, he found for him a phoenix that was willing to bequeath his son an egg, when they bound it helped his son, but not enough, the daughter of a friend, who cared for his son was a powerful witch, when they wed it helped the son, but it wasn't enough. The Phoenix was a good and faithful companion, and the wife a wise and true helpmeet, but together they hadn't the power, the mage grew irrational, paranoid, he fled from those that would save him, and sought solace amongst his enemies, even in this reversal he showed no consistency, where they thought they would gain a powerful ally he decimated their numbers, childish fits, flights of fancy, only luck allowed that he had lost the last of his mind amongst his most hated opponents. When she felt her vows slacken, and die, when he felt his bonds wither, and fade, the widow and the phoenix grieved their love and friend, the weeping bird grew sick, and the widow would not eat, when next the phoenix burned, the widow was prepared, she had studied, and learned all she could, prepared a ritual to power the permanent binding of man's magic, she would use her love as catalyst, and prevent any other from suffering as she had, when the phoenix began it's flame in the circle she had created, she leapt into the flames, and joining the remains of her beloved, offering herself as sacrifice she tried to enact the ritual, and create a new binding, eternal upon all men, the flames snuffed, and she awoke, the phoenix, now appearing new to this world was also unharmed, having failed she prepared to end her life, when a cry rang through the air, walking over to the ashes she found two baby girls, twins, from the union of herself, and born of the love of her ritual the first was pale girl, angelic, the finest down upon her head rather than hair, the bluest of eyes, a child of sky, and ethereal fire, the other with dusky, skin perfect, but appearing tan from birth, with hair a rich earthy brown, the calm of water, surrounding the rich magic of earth, both girls with greater power than either surviving progenitor to bind the power evenly of wizards. The woman, and phoenix had failed, but something came of their failure, if these girls, born of love and desperation wed in love, they could bind power the likes of which had never been seen, with the thought of preventing others from suffering within their minds, the phoenix and woman split up, each taking one child, the woman taking the girl of water and earth, the phoenix the child of fire, and sky, both tempered by love. The first year was critical, the child of sky learned flying through the air, the form of a bird, and the fire of the sun, forcing their love outward, and basking in the light, the child of earth was taken by the woman, and protected viciously, raised to hide in the woods, and love fiercely that which she valued. When they met again the sisters had learned too well their lessons, the child of earth, became all the shape shifters you have heard tell of, dragons, kitsune, penguins," she shot Angelina a glance, "They split into many clans often, falling in love with different forms, protecting each other with their deep inescapable bonds of love, and fierce passion, the children of sky could not differ so, they sent out their love for all to see, and so never split," she finished awkwardly trying to pinpoint how to continue her explanation without corrupting the facts.

"How is that a terrible dark secret?" Hermione asked the perfect question.

"Love is the darkest of all secrets, but I digress," Fleur continued, "If a Veela, or 'magical creature,' of these lines truly and deeply love someone, we bind their power, allowing them to more efficiently use greater amounts of power, and prevent accidental build up which would otherwise weaken, madden, and then kill them, however over the many years in the wild, hunted by wizards, and non magicals alike, along with the strength to protect ourselves, and our families, loves, children whatever, as purely matriarchal creatures, creatures that manifest only as women, if our bond is true, and absolute we have sort of a back door into our love's minds, in case our bond is not enough if we truly love them, our love is an inescapable cage. Most Veela who have studied the subject are of the opinion that it initially was a way for us to protect our mates, as it is manifest only with true love it is how would you say it, a terrible weapon to wield, and if he struggles enough against the control he could harm himself, or even kill himself, if we maintained the control."

"That's terrible," the bushy haired bookworm was appalled, "So if anyone, anyone with manifesting creature blood loves Harry they could just enslave him," she shook her head in disgust, "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Calm down," the silvery blond Veela placated, "For someone to control him at all, they must be enthralled by him completely, I just had to inform you of the power because of our circumstances Hermione," Fleur teased, "In love or not, poor Harry will undoubtedly not be of his right mind, until we can solve that, we will require every advantage we can eek out, non?"

"Besides," the blond bombshell comforted the wild haired witch, "As terrible a weapon as it may seem, it gives control of the body, not the mind, we could cause him to move, or not move, sleep or awaken, but we cannot control his mind, his will is his own, I suspect otherwise even our inescapable trap would fail to spring, non?"

With so many questions answered, it was with greater solemnity that various amongst the other girls began to reveal their own heritage, Su Li a petite Ravenclaw in Hermione's own year was a sleek black Kitsune, with two flowing tails, to the consternation of red-headed Susan Bones, who's overly playful red fox had just one. Hannah Abbot, later having been given credit for planning it outright proved to be the cutest blond black bear that anyone had ever seen, and confusing Ron when he was told in ways that Abbot and Costello would have been proud of. There was some awkwardness, and a great deal of laughter when Cho Chang revealed herself by transforming into an adolescent Chinese Fireball, whom Penelope Clearwater immediately matched her shock factor with a transformation, into a winged lioness, with a very convincing Sphinx in between. Before the teasing from the twins could start in earnest about the 'Lioness,' in Ravenclaw, Ginny interrupted, "Penny, I thought you were going out with Percy," she paused awkwardly, to try to finish when she was interrupted by the studious girl, just as she shrugged out of the last of her transformation back to human shaped.

"That little prick got his last favor out of me when I agreed to be in that maze for the Triwizard tournament," at the questioning looks all around she began to elaborate, "In my fifth year, two different times was I interrupted when I was letting my inner cat purr, as it were, in the prefects bath, once when some joker changed the password to 'I'll meet up with you later,' and once when some jerk thought that he could convince himself that he liked girls, by 'borrowing,' his brothers map. I transformed back in time when Harry accidentally wandered in, because he was a perfect gentleman, and covered his eyes, even though he looked like he really wanted to look," she smirked, "The other interruption, did not inspire such warm feelings, and because he in was trying his hardest to get a glimpse of me, he saw me, vigorously washing my coat, and leaving my wings out to dry, with the map he knew it was me, first he blackmailed me to change back, and when it turned out he batted for the other team after all, Mr. 'I need the right image to advance,' blackmailed me into being his beard," she scowled, "When he was having trouble after Crouches disappearance, I got him to go with one more favor, and he saved his job by bringing in a live 'Sphinx' from his brothers connections in Egypt," as the present Weasley's were contemplating apologizing, she waved them off, "Don't worry about it, Percy was a prick, but when he had to bring Bill in, he was cool, I won't hold it against the rest of you jokers," she waved playfully.

"What if we ask?" Fred said waggling his eyebrows, and receiving an elbow from George, and Ginny.

"She's clearly decided she's Harry's bird," Penelope, giggled and nodded, "Or Cat, Lioness, Catbird,-" George cut off at an elbow from his sister, and a slightly less playful raised eyebrow from the immitigable Miss Clearwater. After which Marietta Edgecombe's transformation left the two even more amused, "So the DA's rat is actually a rat?"

"Mink," she blushed, "We're a terribly jealous lot, apparently, I developed a little early, and grand mum gave me the chat this last summer, about not viciously attacking the things we love," she looked around at the awkward, or annoyed faces, "Shutting up now."

Leaving it to Lisa Turpin to try to make peace, after good naturedly turning back from a fire crab, she spoke up, "Listen I've gone over Harry's stats too, and we don't even have enough women here as it is, we'll need to forgive and forget, if we want to have a chance of this whole scenario working out." The agreement, though grudging proved to be unanimous. When Padma, and Parvati gracefully stalked forward into the guise of precisely mirrored snow leopards, there was again a great deal of impressed chatter.

It was Luna's turn next as the flighty girl transformed into a tiny owl before turning expectantly towards Ginny. "Is there something you haven't told us sister?" George said, amused at the sudden indignation his sister was showing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she crossed her arms pouting at a knowing Luna, who to the shock of everyone drew her wand, and shot a quick 'Incendio,' at her friend before anyone could stop her.

It was oddly enough the Patil twins who confronted the girl initially, while Ginny's brothers were frantically trying to put her out, Hermione, and Tonks, were conjuring water to spray over the girl, and Cho seemed to be trying to push the flames inward with telekinesis, perhaps it was some kind of dragon fire control thing, she thought idly to herself, the flabbergasted twin girls were about to question the wide eyed blonde, when the twin boys interrupted them, "Blimey, no wonder we've been a light family so long," George exclaimed.

"First girl in so many generations, we hadn't the foggiest," Fred continued in awe. Backing out of the way to show the room his baby sister, a baby phoenix, poking out of a pile of ash, a very wet, annoyed baby phoenix.

"Just concentrate on how you feel as a human, and you should be able to change back," Penny said helpfully, "I think, actually my family thought the Phoenix/Women were extinct, so good luck."

"Okay so this slow reveal is getting boring, anyone else HUGE?" Tonks winked at Cho Chang, who only winked back as the auror shifted forms, and colors, "As you can all see, I'm simply a Metamorphmagus."

"Wait, how does that count as a creature heritage?" Hermione asked, causing some groans, before looking embarrassed.

"Just for that you're next," Tonks said laughing at the indignant huff the Gryffindor bookworm shot out, "My ancestors didn't pick a magical group of animals to hide out in, now zappy-zappy."

"I'm not exactly sure how mine came about but," Hermione turned first into a little kneazle, and then quickly into a rather intimidating looking Nundu, being pretty obvious that she could stop at any size in between.

Lavender Brown was as a Gryffindor the next to charge ahead, looking extremely sheepish, as she turned into the classic representation of a succubus, huge leathery wings extending out, and a much cuter tail than one would expect twisted about her legs, as even some of the other girls were drooling, she transformed back rather quickly. "We're much more tuned towards controlling our loves than others, we have the allure of Veela, but absolutely no control, it is either on or off, and many of us can't control it well enough to turn it off, when transformed, this has led to evolutionary measures where we exercise greater control over our men, but we're not psycho dominatrix bitches, or anything," she finished sheepishly.

Elizabeth Moon to no ones apparent surprise turned into a cute little wolf. Sally-Anne Perks turned into a cheerful looking crup, and upon changing back confided her ability but distaste for turning into larger dogs. Victoria Frobisher, and Silvia Fawcett looked to each other before turning into what appeared to be winged bunnies. Before Daphne, and Astoria Greengrass, along with Tracy Davis gave everyone another shock, but all turning into Welsh Green Dragons, putting everything out into the open, apparently.

With no more surprises in store, the discussion was ready to really begin.

Marge Dursley loved her brother, and her nephew, she even liked her sister-in-law, and she certainly enjoyed putting that whelp in his place, imagine putting up with him being foisted off on them, with no how do you do at all. Poor Vernon, and Petunia must be saints, and of course old Colonel Fubster, always willing to watch the dogs for a bit, when she needed to see her brother, and little Duddy-poo. As she pulled up to the house that ungrateful creature wasn't even doing any honest work, he was playing about with some animals, looked to be fine breeds too. Perhaps poor Petunia had finally gotten some sense, and gotten some dogs, at least a few, they looked like Jack Russell's, ratty little breed, but they looked like champions of that line, and playing so nicely with the worthless, and cats, maybe Petunia and Vernon would let her stud them, always good to find more revenue, and most wouldn't even consider dogs that didn't 'Play well with children,' anymore, she thought disgustedly. And there's her little Duddy, looking so handsome, and he's just watching that whelp play with what are undoubtedly his pets. And what are those birds, disgraceful, he'll never toughen up those mutts like that.

Free, Dudley found me passed out over my new pets, nice of him to wake me up, he had been planning to talk to me, something about last summer, rotten summer that, dementors and all. This one was shaping up, there was something I should remember, but right now I just want to play. I've never felt like this before, wee.

Harry was passed out over a trunk in his room when I found him, I wouldn't have entered when I didn't get a response when I knocked if I hadn't heard animals, then this monkey thing popped out of nowhere, and looking really tired tried to help Harry up, well he was smaller than Harry even, so I gave him a hand, I figured he was a wizard like Harry, maybe a mutant wizard or something, but he looked exhausted, he fed the animals, a red bird, a blue bird, three cats, and three dogs, they were cute, but mum was going to be pissed. Mum got another one of those calls again, and with how Harry saved my life, I thought he could help me figure out what they were about. The Daily Planet is pretty famous, I just can't think of why they'd call mum.

Either way even if he looked as happy as I'd seen him, Harry looked pretty rough, and Aunt Marge is coming today, so he should probably be on his game, at least pack those poor animals away from Ripper, ugly berk.

Hedwig interrupted the meeting just as they were wrapping up, carrying a paper bag containing care instructions for several animals, and a vial of what Fred and George rather quickly identified as a highly illegal blood identifier potion. Giving a tremendous bark, after she settled, and looking Hermione straight in the eye for almost a full minute, she took off again, back to Harry, and the message was clear, they were too late, and they needed a plan fast.

Insolent, little, you needed breeding licenses, and paperwork, and he dared to claim that these were his pets, and poor Duddy-poo tricked into believing his lies.

After the little Monkey Wizard guy fed Harry's pets and left Harry woke up, and he looked nothing like I had ever seen him, he was darting around, and not concentrating, when I tried to bring up the calls he just yelled, "I'm Superman," and started making whooshing sounds and running around with his arms up like he was flying, all the animals jumped, or flapped out of the trunk, and followed him as he ran down the stairs, and out the door, circling in the yard like he was pretending to be a plane, and playing around with the animals when they all got out there, jumping around like a loon, and laughing, he looked like he was having such fun, I almost went out to mess around with him, maybe I could still make things right…

Then Aunt Marge Pulled up.

Well I'll show him, "Attack Ripper," I'll toughen those little mutts up, imagine, a dog gamboling about with a teenager like that.

I went to intervene when Aunt Marge sent Ripper to attack, I figured it was the least I could do, but Harry caught him like a rag doll, and pulled him around into a hug.

"Yay, another Doggie," that was when I knew he had snapped spinning Ripper around like some bird in an airport commercial, then setting him on his hind legs, and dancing with him, at first Ripper looked mad, then confused, then when the other dogs, and cats started howling at him he started looking happy, and I've never seen that miserable mutt look anything but murderous, he licked Harry, and then made a show of standing on his front legs, and dancing around, either Harry or that monkey guy was doing something, cause this was not natural.

She was right about to wade into it herself, she'd show that whelp not to make a fool of her Ripper, and her, when an owl landed in front of her, a white owl, she remembered was his pet, and it had the nerve to bark at her, in the middle of the day, and then some kind of monkey in a dress appeared, looking drunk. "Winky, will not be letting you hurt Missus Hedgiewiggy, or Harry Potter Sir, Bad Dursling," the drunk little creature threw up a hand, and I flew backwards against my car, and then it apparently passed out, ha I'd step on it on the way by.

Simplest plan is usually the best, smallest amount of force necessary for a task is usually the amount of force you should use, but no plan survives first contact.

Neither the Dursleys, anyone from the Order who might not be trustworthy, Harry himself, or indeed Voldemorts less than estimable group had any reason to suspect that a little eight year old blond girl would be the least bit dangerous even with a wand, so it was decided that Gabrielle, with her diplomatic magic usage permit, and unassuming looks, (For another week or so anyway) would be the best choice to extract Harry, the bulk of the group who had been interested in Harry's welfare appeared gripping a long rope, three or four houses past Mrs. Figgs' residence, and just outside the ward line, Gabrielle herself appeared, just on the other side of a tall fence from #4 and proceeded to walk through, as though out for a stroll in her own neighborhood. Upon seeing the monstrous woman, apparently about to squish an unconscious Winky, she acted decisively, drawing heavily upon the only version of her heritage's allure that she had access to as a young Veela.

The CUTENESS was completely overwhelming, sensing that she wasn't malevolent, Harry's pets, and Ripper were the first to notice, either to her credit, or against her credit, Marge Dursley had almost stepped on Winky, when she noticed the cutest little girl, in the world right behind her, what an adorable child, she was going to go get her a dolly, or maybe an ice-cream cone. With hardly another thought, she was in her car and heading towards the town center in search of a toy store. Dudley Dursley, knew he had some candy somewhere, he was trying to cut down anyway, so why shouldn't he share it with this little angel, maybe she would like to come in for ice-cream, she was probably new in the neighborhood, they should help her get home to her mommy.

Harry just wanted to keep playing, and that voice in his head telling him to pamper and protect that little girl seemed awfully close to Veela Allure to him, so seeing the little girl he'd pulled from the lake over a year ago he was tickled pink. "Gabby!" he shouted running towards the suddenly startled, but hopeful girl, "Wanna play tag?" just as he got close to her and looked like he was going to pick her up in a hug, he poked her in the nose, stuck out his tongue, and yelled, "Tag, You're It!" leaving a shocked little sixteen year old still pouring on the charm. Regaining her wits Gabrielle withdrew her charm, and called for a Delacour house elf, guessing correctly that if Harry's new elves were not excluded from the wards her families would not be either.

"Celeste," she called calmly, waiting for the well appointed little head elf.

"Mademoiselles?" the little elf replied, after a short conversation, Winky, Harry's new pets, Ripper, and presumably all the Potter House elves were on their way to being well cared for at the main Delacour estate, and Gabrielle was just turning to address the increasingly urgent matter of getting to Harry, when the rest of her future bond sisters arrived, creating a sizable crowd in front of the Dursley Residence. Dudley, recognizing the matching redheads steeled himself, before gathering his newfound courage, and approaching the cute little girl, tapping her on the shoulder.

"You're a whachamacallit, right?" he asked uncertainly.

"A what," the accented girl asked cutely.

"A magic guy, with a wand, like my cousin?" he said gesturing like it was supposed to be obvious.

"Most certainly not!" Gabrielle shouted indignantly, "Do I look like a man to you, I may be young, but I am all woman, and when I grow, then Harry will find me breathtaking, do you hear me, not like a child, not cute, breathtaking!"(It is apparently very frustrating to be a sixteen year old Veela when you already have someone in mind that you want to see you as a woman worth dating) "And when I take his breath it will be through a snog, and as the women will be jealous of me, so too will the men be jealous of Harry, except for those men who are jealous of me, because that is how manly Harry is," she finished angrily, "Do you Understand?"

"I just wanted to tell you that Harry is acting really weird, I think he's gone crazy," Dudley said defensively, "Not that you'd notice."

Kara Kent was not happy about being on a commercial flight. Mind you she didn't mind helping Lois Lane out, and she hadn't even put together the girl Clark had grown up with as the famous designer, though why she'd be coming with she couldn't fathom. So Lois had some cousin who's book she was finishing, and she had to go meet someone in England in the meantime, didn't seem like a great reason for any escort really, although, if she really got into trouble as much as Clark said, and with him liaising with the Green Lantern Corp, getting some of their outlying sectors back under control with the rest of the league, so they could focus on the whole Darksied issue, she couldn't really complain about what should be a simple assignment on earth, Wally was even tagging along in the area on vacation as backup. One Flash two seconds away by earpiece. It was the rest of the people coming that she couldn't stand the idea of. Galatea, or PowerGirl, now going as her older sister Sharon Kent,(At least she got to keep her name) was tagging along, both because she was a member of Clarks family, and so Lois's family, but as a newly minted member of the League, she needed practice working with other members, and even following orders. She could follow the logic on that, she was a little offended that they thought she needed a minder for what might amount to a missing person case, but whatever, as the senior league member on the case, at only Seventeen it had to be a record, even with backup. She had to keep focusing on that, not her unwelcome guests. What possible reason there was for three of Gotham cities worst coming along, at Miss Lang's expense, and both her and Lois's insistence. Selene Kyle, Harley Quinn, and Pamela Isley, were three of the worst supervillians that operated today, and they were part of this as some kind of outing.

This whole thing was going to be a fiasco, maybe she did need backup.

After all that work, by Chloe, then her, and Clark had wanted her to wait, it wasn't even a real story, what could go wrong. Then of course she'd found more in Chloe's notes, and had to ask Bruce Wayne of all people for help with the research, he certainly was the 'World's Greatest Detective,' for a reason though, she had cousins in England well another cousin in England, who apparently lived with her insane Aunt Petunia, her cousin Dudley, and her Uncle Vernon, having only met the Dursley's on rare occasions, especially since beginning her climb to the top of world of reporting with Clark, but her sparse stories regarding them, and the less than cordial, or even coherent responses she'd been getting while trying to research over the phone regarding her missing cousin, had led her to believe that something was going on, and Clark's over-reacting when he couldn't go with her was sweet, even as annoying as it was, it was kind of sweet. Of course the entire myriad of issues was only complicated, when she found out that the cousin she was looking for was also Lana Lang's cousin through the other side, with all the problems she'd had with the cheerleader over the years it was ironic that the one thing they'd had in common when she was alive had brought them together like this after she died. Bruce, and Oliver had both offered to come of course but only including family had already made them an unruly group, and that was without Lucy, if SuperGirl, Powergirl, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Lois Lane, and the Flash weren't enough to deal with whatever was going on, she wanted clear heads who knew most of what was going on, and between those two, and Jonn Jonz, she couldn't think of clearer heads. It was nice of Lana to foot the bill, fashion magnate or not, when she'd approached her about providing her own shares, she'd just been laughingly told that a nice interview about her spring line would be wonderful, before shutting down the subject with the expertise of someone who dealt with the press almost as much as Lois dealt with interviewee's. Finding out that her cousin Pamela, and Lana's cousin Selene were supervillians in Gotham had been a shock, especially when they decided to bring Harley Quinn, of all people, but they seemed genuinely interested in helping, as family, and their reasoning with Harley was hard to counter, as a discreet Psychiatrist she was a hard prospect to beat, and if she was right a psychiatrist was a good thing to have. She hated even thinking about it, but subtle inquiries from everyone from her cousin Willow, Pamela, even poor aunt Naomi had been stonewalled, she'd sent Jordan, and Sara in her stead, something about her family having gotten small enough. It was startling to think that her little cousin had worked to stop an alien invasion before the Justice League had been formed in it's current incarnation, and before the Green Lantern Corp had been brought back from the brink of destruction. Of course it was even more startling to find out how zealously the surviving Berenson's avoided talking about it. It was also pretty weird that Willow was being so closed-mouth about the friends she'd decided had to come, but if they were as close as sisters to her, maybe they just wanted to be there for her when she met her cousin.

That didn't even include the mysterious "Aunt Viper" that was meeting them there, with her, 'Apprentice,' of all things, or the weird cousins that Lana and Selene had mentioned would try to get there. One from some kind of hidden continent, and one a teacher in Japan. If she wasn't much mistaken her cousin Harry probably had the weirdest family tree in the world.

Of course she'd always suspected that something was wrong, and she felt a lot of shame that she hadn't checked any of this out before hand. Chloe wouldn't have left it this long, that she was sure of that much. She'd received confirmation that he lived there from several sources. Neighbors, school records, but after primary school there was nothing official, if it was really a reform school like St. Brutus's there'd be some record of attendance, not just nothing. Still no matter what was going wrong, they really only had that fat lump of an Uncle to deal with, and the with the information she'd uncovered it shouldn't be a problem if she wanted to take custody of her cousin herself, at the very least she'd see that he was alright, and make sure he got around to meet the family, the Dursleys might not want anything to do with her, and her 'Freaky Stories,' about aliens, and 'Flying Freaks,' saving the world, but family was important, and she wasn't the type to give up.

She'd thrown herself into her work wholeheartedly, since Chloe's death, she'd lost Clark to Lois long ago, Pete was a friend, but he'd never been close. Nell hadn't really been the mother type when she'd raised her, but she'd done her best, excepting her friendship with Clark(Superman), she was a little smug that she'd known that before Lois, but it certainly hadn't made much difference. She had Pete, Clark, Martha Kent, when the still very motherly woman wasn't in Washington, and acquaintances. Going through Chloe's notes, after they'd found the connection on the family tree, had netted her a cousin in England she'd never met, a rather interesting society type, who'd wore her designs on occasion, but hadn't known they were related, and two cousins out towards Asia, one British, and the other hidden away in the elemental nations of all places, and when they had heard that there might be a problem with Harry, they'd been all for making sure he was alright. She certainly made enough as a designer, and oddly enough had inherited everything from the Teague's, after Jason, and his mother's deaths. Rich yes, alone, hopefully not anymore.

Negi Springfield was probably the most powerful Magister Magi in existence, but it didn't help his patience any, it hadn't been too long since his cousin managed to contact him through the Justice League's ties with the various magic associations, he'd become even more of a celebrity than his father had been, and it didn't even begin to help his nervousness. It didn't help that most of 'his girls' had tagged along, and were probably tearing the poor village apart by now, while he waited to meet the leader. "Tsunade Sama will see you now," he proceeded to meet the Hokage, leader of his cousins village.

Senju Tsunade didn't know what to think. She'd known that Jiraya had been well traveled, but to have left the elemental continent altogether when he retrieved his first apprentice, and presumably before that even. That Minato had had siblings, but opted to come to an entirely new nation.

"I'm told that both my cousin's father, and my own took similar paths upon leaving their families," Negi said trying to break the ice.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Tsunade said carefully, probing the stranger for more information.

"I just mean, my father traveled with a group gaining strength to defend others, until, well, until he couldn't any more, and I was left with our uncle, and cousin, in a Welsh Outpost of the 'Integration Faction,' of magic users, I recently learned of Naruto's father, a friend of our grandparents agreed to set him up in some kind of military academy, and the cousin who still lives in England, was raised by members of the 'Isolationist Faction,' of magic users," he began to get into his explanation. "Really I think that the full gamut of the Isolationist Factions actions are foolish in the extreme, I mean imagine the folly of believing that you can totally hide an entire culture, or group of subcultures really, and still interact with others outside the bailiwick of the group, or subgroup that you're trying to hide, I think overall the Integration Factions are more successful hiding, or keeping the masses from finding out wholesale because non-magical people are more, and more becoming able to replicate abilities and accomplishments that formerly only magic would be able to-"

"Enough," Tsunade face-palmed, "So how long have you been a teacher?"

"About fourteen years," Negi said perplexed, "But how did you know?"

"Lucky Guess," she raised an eyebrow, "Well to be honest you've convinced me that you're Naruto's cousin, but he's on a mission right now, and won't be back for two weeks, if everything goes according to plan, would you like to wait?"

"If it's no trouble, I'd love to learn a little about my cousins life, but I had really hoped he could come with me, when I was first contacted, another cousin of ours who my, 'friends,'" he blushed and looked away, "say is quite famous seems to think that a mutual cousin is in trouble, and reestablishing ties might be the best way to help, at the very least I'd like to try to lend support."

"What kind of trouble?" Tsunade leaned forward looking more serious, "Is it serious?"

"Well our cousin has a cousin on the other side, who was researching her family tree, when she stumbled upon the fact that her cousin had a cousin on the other side whom she knew, upon looking into this cousin, and contacting her mutual cousin, who he lived with was told that he wasn't there, or welcome, but there is clear evidence of him growing up for most of his life in their home," he finished uncomfortably, "With her connection to the other side of his ancestry, they decided that getting everyone they could together, and intervening would be the best option, we'd go meet this cousin, and maybe we could all stay in touch, and," he looked embarrassed, "I'm not sure about most of them, but I've always craved more connection to family." Tsunade's face softened thinking of Naruto's own longings for more family.

"Okay, this complicates thing, the brat will never forgive me if something like this goes down, and I don't let him help, or in this case help," she bit her lip thoughtfully, "I can't leave while he's gone, as much as I'd like to meet the brat's cousin," she gestured obscurely, "other cousin. He's next in line as Hokage, we don't like to leave the village exposed." At his nod she continued, "Knowing the kind of trouble magnet Naruto can be, I'll send his wife, and both my apprentices, along with any volunteers who are available without notice."

After a quick headcount Tsunade came up with sixteen volunteers to join Hinata, Sakura, and Shizune. Anko was too amused to pass up the opportunity to meet one relative of the World's #1 Most Surprising Ninja. Lee was of course adamant that if he could assist a relation of his honorable friend and rival it was his duty to do so. Neji submitted that meeting further relations would allow him to monitor what kind of family his cousin had joined. Hanabi gave a similar excuse, while the Konohamaru Corp, claimed the right to corrupt younger relatives, Iruka gave the opposite reason, eager to meet his former student's family. Temari, and a suspiciously out of breath Gaara who wasn't even supposed to be in the village currently were adamant that they go along for international relations. Tenten was laughing to hard to give a coherent reason, but nodded at wanting to go. The remainders of team eight, and team ten in it's entirety weren't about to miss out on the fun, and finally Tsunade was clear that they had enough volunteers when ANBU, and former ANBU curious about whether it was genetics or his status as Jinchuriki that ended up with Naruto in his current state tried to tag along, for village security of course.

All the girls could tell that Harry was close, to use the bond there were few caveats, but Fleur had warned them explicitly not to use it if they didn't have eyes on him. Even without his invisibility cloak, and with an entire group searching for him, of course it wasn't a coincidence that Gabby noticed him first, "What're you guys all doing?" he asked from over her right shoulder, floating quite comfortably upside down tapping her on her left shoulder, and coincidentally losing an ornate vial, of some oddly colored potion from his oversized shirts pocket before she answered.

"We are searching for you silly boy," she huffed indignantly when upon turning towards her love she discovered nothing but a vial of some potion, she could tell he hadn't moved, thinking he must have disillusioned himself somehow, she grasped the bond firmly, and restrained his magic as completely as she could, while stopping him from moving physically. She was quickly shocked when the lunge she thought would surround a boy in an invisibility cloak ended up with her precariously balancing a for all intents and purposes body bound Harry Potter, who was prevented from breaking his neck by the ballet training and shocking strength of an adolescent Veela. With help that did more to stop his shoulder from being pulled out of its socket than provide any real steadying for Gabrielle's show of strength, the wayward Gryffindor was gently placed on the grass, and allowed to move again physically, though more than one girl kept restraining thoughts on his magic, as Fleur took a moment to take her dear little sister aside, and berate her in French, much to her chagrin.

"What were you thinking, you could have broken his neck?"

"I thought he was disillusioned, or under an invisibility cloak," she replied almost in tears having feared for a brief second that she had seriously harmed the boy.

"I said to be very careful not to cut off his magic unless you saw him for a reason, Gabby, it is an important reason for one of his power, he could be juggling pianos," she looked thoughtfully at the young man who was walking on his hands, to the amusement of his pets, and mixed reactions of his audience, "Or continents."

It was then that Harry again approached and spoke to Fleur in an overdone stage whisper, "Fleur," he looked around comically ignoring the fact that all eyes were on him, "Gabrielle, is very not good at tag," he dodged away as she was about to put a hand on his arm, either to tag him, or reassure him that Gabby was indeed very good at tag, and he was doing it wrong, but he didn't want to get tagged, if Gabby had tagged her, he had already been It, and besides he wanted to try the potion that had been with his pets in the trunk. Two non-corporeal, unverified, oddly irreverent representations of his parents that were stuffed into a box demanded it, well suggested it. Now where was that potion.

Gabrielle didn't take too long to realize that Harry was trying to get the vial back. He was trying to snatch it from her, with him not being in his right mind, and her not knowing what the vial contained, she felt that discretion was the better part of valor for now.

Wanting to take the potion while he still remembered that he should Harry tried a different tact, convincing the girl, "Here, this is Ginny," he said holding forth the somewhat mortified Redhead, "You can play keep away with her for a while instead, whenever I come into the room she Squeaks, and runs out," he pushed her towards Gabrielle gently, while reaching for the vial with the other hand.

Even embarrassed for everyone involved Fred and George couldn't resist a joke, "And what do you think that means, oh wise partner?" Fred began.

"Yes please enlighten us," George chuckled.

"I think she's part Prewitt, and part mouse, but one of you has to tell your father," Harry deadpanned, only stopped from grabbing the vial during Gabrielle's(Everyone's) moment of shock by the girls impressive reflexes, and his own unusual lack of focus. Crouching quickly almost comically seeming to imitate the Kneazles playing around his feet, he leapt towards the girl, only to be caught betwixt the Patil's who had just had the thought that continuing this entire discussion while not entirely fair would certainly be easier if Harry was forced to sleep through the bond, and had quickly enforced the thought.

Dudley caught unawares by this series of events was stuck in a precarious place, he was trying to be a nicer person, but these people, even aside from being magical and perhaps acquainted with how poorly he had acted as a child towards Harry, seemed in several instances to be stronger than he would have imagined. When Harry fell that little frog caught him like a baseball, and those hot Paki bints didn't seem to have any trouble either, of course Harry wouldn't have been trying to hurt the little girl, so maybe he wasn't moving as fast as it looked, but he was tougher than he looked…

He thought he should at least offer to help carry him in, after the one Paki, who'd told him to sleep, turned down the redheads for help, the younger one with some anger, and waved aside the pink haired woman when she offered to wave her stick, she was looking down adoringly at Harry, she must be his girlfriend, he thought less jealously than he would have figured he would, before offering his own aid. "Hey Girlie," he said brusquely, "I can carry the wimp in if you need help."

Though he didn't entirely understand why, maybe it was because he was sure they all had magic, maybe it was because they all seemed to have some idea that he shouldn't be his cousins favorite person, but before he inched inside, and went to his room, locked his door and hid behind the bed, he had felt like a mouse being stared at by all the cats, owls, hawks, falcons, snakes, and exterminators in the world while holding a little sign that said, 'New Ranch Flavored,' to his credit he only wet himself a little.

There was always something guarded about Harry, he had the most stunning eyes, and they seemed to show such depth, but as soon as he noticed someone looking the shades were drawn on the windows to his soul. At first when she'd met him in first year she had just thought he was shy. Some people were like that, she was somewhat shy, balancing her sisters lesser reserve when dealing with others, but. As time went on she couldn't help notice that he never seemed to open up, it was like he was always expecting something, to hurt him, from any direction, like a dog that had been beaten all it's life, he seemed eager enough to please, but he held himself back in class, she'd noticed him missing the boat a few times, but he always seemed to expect attention from others to hurt him somehow. Sometimes it seemed like he was afraid of drawing attention in class. So he didn't.

Padma usually tried not to give too much thought to the fact that she was besotted by Harry, even after the Yule Ball before they had done some careful Arithmancy regarding the boy, he'd still been Parvati's territory, him needing both of them was something she wouldn't have considered possible, both because she wouldn't have wanted to drive a wedge between her and her sister, or get her hopes up, looking down at him when he was asleep was certainly a different experience though. He was certainly less reserved when he slept, though to what end was a little heartbreaking. As he lay there on the immaculate couch in #4 Privet Drive with his head in her lap, she'd been smug at first, a little extra contact with their future husband, until she realized something, as her fingers carded his hair as she tried to concentrate both on the surrounding conversation, and keeping him asleep, he was flinching, whenever her hand got out of his hair, and returned to the top of his head he shuddered right before contact, as though any contact would burn him, or hurt him, as though he could feel a hand getting closer, and he knew it brought pain.

Something started burning in Padma, before she made to interrupt the current discussion, and it was only through good reflexes that the next pass through Harry's thicket of wild hair didn't scalp him, as in her rage the usually gentle tempered Padma's claws had truly come out.

"We're going to have to begin reinforcing the bindings soon," Hermione took the lead, again standing before her compatriots in the Dursley's now very crowded living room. "Without any other issues clouding things up we know that much."

"I think we need to recheck our Figures, while we have him here," Padma interrupted, forcing her hand back to a more human shape as she spoke before, going back to stroking Harry's head, hoping that his reaction didn't mean what she thought it did.

"What is it that you mean, where do you think we may have been in error?" Fleur asked, not entirely happy with where the conversation was going.

"When we made our initial calculations, we didn't account for earning Harry's Trust, or Love," Padma said looking into the Veela's eyes.

"He does not need to love us for the bonds to form, and we all agreed that we could live with that, either it would evolve over time, or we could be unrequited, as we don't even have full numbers to ground Harry's Magic amongst us yet we will have to stabilize him as completely as possible for now, or we may not have the opportunity to save him later. He does not need to love us, we will love him entirely, feeling that he will trust us," Fleur reassured looking around to the others in the room, getting several nods from the more optimistic members of the party.

"How would Harry know anything about how love feels?" the bushy haired cat girl hadn't even know what she'd been thinking, before saying it out loud. "I mean, he's always so awkward about praise, or positive reinforcement, I've hugged him, and he always seems to border on panic rather than any kind of love or care, I think he feels love, or like but I'm not sure he isn't entirely confused by it," she gave it a moment's thought in the most awkward of silences, "Fuck," every head that belonged to a person who was well acquainted to the bibliophile jerked towards her with lightning speed, "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, alright keep him asleep, but stop suppressing his magic," she said quickly springing into action, kneeling over her friend, she opened his eyelid to check his responses.

"Hermione Granger, language-" Ron began tauntingly, before the girls lightning reflexes ended up with him being held above the ground by his collar with a single unsheathed claw at his nose.

"This is not the time to mess with me Ronald," she said letting him down just a bit too abruptly, leading to him being caught by his brothers, "I may have doomed us all."

"Okay," she continued, "No one is holding his magic back right?" upon receiving all confirmations she relaxed a little, "Good that might accelerate the process, and we can't afford that right now part of the reason for the encroaching dementia mentioned in many sources for this branch of Arithmancy is constriction on the magic, lack of outlet, if we held it back without immediately rectifying the problem then, it would hurt him more and more until it overwhelmed us, or caused further progression on the damage to him," she finished breathlessly.

"So we can't restrict his magic?" Gabrielle asked doubtfully, having seen the ease with which he manipulated his arcane might, she didn't know if they could survive that restriction and come out victorious. Getting a nod, she tried inching down another tract, "So he won't trust us enough to ground his magic because he won't recognize love instinctually," she stated, deadpan, "And we can't restrict his magic long term because it will accelerate his descent," she finished.

"Right," Padma nodded, "We'll have to carefully watch, and help minimize damage around Harry, while earning his trust, using simple love and understanding to overcome ingrained responses to years of abuse," she leaned down and whispered something to the ear of the boys head in her lap.

"Ha, we're an after school special," Tonks giggled to the confusion of most, and the amusement of others. They heard a beat coming from the other room, and saw what appeared to be another Harry, only dressed in cool clothes that fit snuggly to the appreciation of some of the girls present. Being more worrying to the rest, until from behind the apparition came these words:

[Hi, my name is Bob, and I approve this message] Another Harry appeared dressed in a mismatched button up shirt, and hunting vest, with cargo pants singing:

I've got the magic in meEvery time I touch that track it turns into goldEverybody knows I've got the magic in meWhen I hit the floor the girls come snappin' at meNow everybody wants some presto magicMagic, magic, magicMagic, magic, magicMagic, magic, magic(ahoo)I've got the magic in me!

The initial cool Harry now began singing, working his way through the girls.

These tricks that I'll attempt will blow your mindPick a verse, any verse, I'll hypnotize you with every lineI'll need a volunteer, how about you, with the eyes?

He singled out Hermione, and to her shock grabbed her hand, pulling her next to him, proving that the illusion was solid, the next part seemed to be sung just to her.

Come on down to the front, and stand right here and don't be shyI'll have you time-travellin', have your mind babblin'People tryna inherit the skill so they askin' meEven Dumbledore had to go and take some classes, andI see Merlin like, "What's up man, what's happenin'?"So come one, come all, and see the show tonightPrepare to be astounded, no Ghost or PoltergeistYou know I'm no Pinocchio, I've never told a lieSo call me Mr. Magic Man, I float on Cloud 9 The second Harry again took up the music, as the first danced around and seemed to elicit an uncontrollable euphoria, which swept through the group causing them to join the dance as a whole, the first Harry grabbed Gabrielle's Hands, and danced with her, without her knowledge removing the vile as he moved on. He somehow doubled himself, before the second copy danced with Padma, the first switched places with her, eliciting a squeak as she was caught about to fall to the ground, into a smooth series of moves.

I've got the magic in me (I got the magic, baby)Every time I touch that track it turns into gold (Yes it turns to gold)Everybody knows I've got the magic in me (I got the magic, baby)When I hit the flow the girls come snappin' at me (They be snappin' baby)Now everybody wants some presto magicMagic, magic, magicMagic, magic, magicMagic, magic, magic(ahoo)I've got the magic in me!

Upon noticing that the vial was gone, Gabrielle began searching for it frantically, before turning to the original apparition, who was just in the process of dumping the opened vial down the throat of the original Harry. Forcing him(self?) to swallow, before switching places with Padma again, and taking the last verse with his take a journey into my mindYou'll see why it's venom I rhymeStay on the road, so I shout out louda when I got timeI hit the stage, go insane, then jump into that crowdSee, see, when I rhyme I flow on the beat like pidda-dow-dowSee I decieve you with my intergalactic etherI sing just like Aretha, so respect me like I'm CaesarI kick it like Adidas, flowin' sticky like adhesiveBe cautious, 'cause what I be on'll leave you with amnesiaI break all the rules like F and G WeaselIt's a spectacular show, 'cause my heart pumps dieselSo whatever you saying, it don't entertain my egoI do this everyday, Hocus Pocus is my steeloI've got the magic in me (I got the magic, baby)Every time I touch that track it turns into gold (Yes it turns to gold)Everybody knows I've got the magic in me (I got the magic, baby)When I hit the flow the girls come snappin' at me (They be snappin' baby)Now everybody wants some presto magicMagic, magic, magicMagic, magic, magicMagic, magic, magic(ahoo)I've got the magic in me.(music)I've got the magic in me!

"What just happened?" Hermione said breathing heavily after the excitement.

"It was kind of cool," Fred said looking around seeing that everyone was just as confused as he was.

"I think that Harry just proved that he will be a more difficult case than we had been imagining," Gabrielle said ruefully, picking up the discarded vial that Harry had force-fed himself. "Does anyone know what potion this contained?"

After a few quick spells, and a great deal of relief Tonks announced that according to a series of identification spells the potion was definitely a highly illegal, but totally harmless blood revealing potion, "Well that will only help then," Hermione said positively, "The release of an Animagus form will help further stabilize Harry for the time being, and if the form readily accepts affection, it should be all the faster getting Harry on the road to recovery."

"Alright then, I think that the first order of business is going to be getting Harry out of here, at the very least this place is a bad environment with many unpleasant memories, so-" Fleur began, enumerating the first part of a valid plan of action.

"I have a really big bed at home," Luna chimed in.

"It won't help if we attempt to pressure, or force Harry into anything, remember love, and understanding, wherever we end up Harry will have the privacy accorded by his own room, and hopefully he will be either knowledgeable enough or trusting enough that he doesn't mind being tracked and charmed to the gills," Hermione said, thinking it best to not mention how easily and quickly he tricked them all, while asleep.

"Alright, so he should be more stable now, and we can't keep him asleep forever…" Lavender began nervously, "Should we narrow things down, before he wakes up, or…"

"Well, one way to be moving along then," Hermione tried to sound confident as she reached down to shake awake her friend, and love, "Harry, Harry, can we talk?"

"Hermione," he leaned close, "I can see your kitty ears," and leaned back giggling after his whispered warning.

"Kitty ears?" she covered the sides of her head as though embarrassed, before realizing that it wouldn't really matter in this crowd anyway. "Harry James Potter, are you making fun of me?" she mock scolded.

"Oh no, am I in trouble?" Harry asked trembling, "Are you my appointment in Samarra?"

"What?" Hermione asked trembling.

"The woman who stands waiting aside," he said gently, taking her hand and looking deeply into her eyes, "The appointment I keep missing…"

Shaken, Hermione hugged Harry more tightly than strictly advisable, only stopping when she heard a rather painful sounding huff, pulling back to see a rather dazed looking Harry, "Kitty," before being pulled back by a hand on each shoulder.

"Cryptic references aside, Hermione, you cannot squeeze what little sense he has left out of him," Fleur tried to put on a bright face having recognized the reference as well, "Harry-" she turned back to the boy only to be interrupted.

"Honk," he poked her in the nose, "Why is a goose like a bike horn?" he started, ignoring the quelling gestures from Fleur, "Oh, shoot I ruined it, let me start again-,"

"Non, Harry, we need to be serious for a moment, your Aunt and Uncle could be back any time, your cousin seems quite resigned to cause us no trouble, but we wish to take you to a kinder place to rest for the remainder of the summer," Fleur started quickly, "Would you like that?"

"Kinder?" his face lit up, looking around and seeing only friendly faces, "What about Hedwig, and my new pets?" he asked the picture of consternation.

"They are of course welcome, I can only speak for my own families home, but would you like to come to France, and spend the summer with us in Chateau de Delacour?" Fleur asked slyly seeing his excitement, "No Dursleys, and you could fly, I know you like to fly, and we have large grounds."

Upon the mention of flying his face dropped like a stone, "My broom is gone, locked up in Toad-Woman's Cave," he began looking even sadder, "Sirius got me that broom, before he died, but after he broke out of Azkaban, and it was pretty much the only thing I had to remember him by, and I let that awful creature take it instead of grinding her into the ground like a stumpy used fag," he was almost crying now, but winding down, "I don't even deserve to be a Gryffindor, letting her walk all over me, when she smells like used feet."

"We'll-" Gabrielle corrected herself, "Someone will get your broom back Harry, you're not doing very well though, you're not yourself, do you know what's happening to you?"

"Going crazy so my magic doesn't kill me," he said brightening up, "As fast," he looked morose, "Delaying that appointment again I guess?" He asked with some consternation.

"You won't have any such appointment until you're an old man Harry," Hermione said firmly putting a hand on his arm, "Toothless in bed, surrounded by grandchildren okay?"

"Anyway," Fleur said leadingly, "For now why don't you come with us to France," she stood up, offering a hand, "Alright?"

"Can I see the Eiffel Tower?" he asked excitedly, drawing chuckles with his enthusiasm, "Where are my pets?" he asked suddenly looking around.

"We sent them ahead," Gabrielle quickly changed the subject, "How shall we go to France?"

"First I need a Passport," Harry said firmly, "I don't want to be arrested, and thrown into a pit, and eaten by worms," he continued speculating, "Hermione, if you already have a passport, can you be a kitty, and I'll hold you in the Chunnel, on my lap?" he pleaded, "I absolutely promise I won't pet you the wrong way, please?" He stood excitedly, at her somewhat bewildered nod and began out towards the front yard and presumably France.

"Harry, why don't you go with Tonks first," Fleur said gesturing to the Metamorphmagus Auror, "She can pack your stuff with magic."

"Cool!" he said excitedly, grabbing Tonks by the hand and practically dragging her upstairs.

"Does anyone object to going to France for the rest of the Summer?" Fleur asked looking around.

"We can run interference," Fred said gesturing between his brothers, and Neville, and himself, "Would you like us to make a run and retrieve a certain Firebolt as well?" he asked pretending to buff his nails nonchalantly.

"Non," Fleur said gratefully, "Harry apparently has two phoenix's, and we have countless house elves at our disposal between those at home, and Harry's, it should be no problem, Gabrielle and I will take Harry to Gringotts for papers, and we will meet across the muggle street from the Leaky Cauldron, does that suit?" She finished just as Harry and Tonks came downstairs, getting a nod from the colorful Auror.

When she ran into Marge in the toy store buying an expensive baby doll, and an entire toy tea service, she knew something was up. The only soft spots that woman had were Vernon, Dudley, Dogs, and Money, not quite in that order, and sometimes she wondered if she didn't enjoy torturing Harry more than spoiling Dudley. Even is something freaky was going on, Petunia knew the boy would clean up after that damn mutt if she'd left him at the house. When Marge had gotten to the part about him playing with cats and dogs in the lawn, and some freaky tropical birds, a dancing Ripper, and some little girl, along with monkey people. She knew she had to go home and find out what was happening. Obviously some friend of the boy or something had shown up, bewitched things or something. Damn she'd been counting on him staying long enough to clean up after Marge and Ripper. It had taken her most of the year to get things cleaned up after last time without him there to do the heavy work. She'd have to tell them that they couldn't take him yet.

"Yes, of course dear," she agreed when Marge asked her about some dogs and cats or something, "Mustn't have some poor animals raised by someone like that, worthless lay about, if he somehow got them without the proper licenses, and such, we'll get them to you right away, shouldn't be any issue, I'll just check with Dudders," she agreed readily, it wasn't like she'd let the boy have any pets if she had a choice, hell if she could get away with it she'd toss the damn owl, but someone would notice, with how her sister had treated the blasted things, she was sure she'd get into some kind of trouble.

Finding her target hadn't been tough, more accurately it hadn't even been tough for Jade. The girl was almost as good with that snake talisman as she was now, hardly even an apprentice anymore, but she'd let her figure that out, it was even more important to be careful as an agent, than a spy, after all worst that would happen if a thief was caught was prison. For an agent, the stakes were much higher. Of course right now they were just clearing up a little family matter. Target: Petunia Dursley nee Evans, Sister to one Violet Chan nee Viper Evans. A more unpleasant woman it was hard to imagine, but she might be talking with her right now. Jade had been following her since she left her house, and her chatting with that sister-in-law of hers was the perfect approach for the both of them.

"Tuney, is that you?" she squealed just perfectly, a gossip mongering housewife who hadn't seen her sister in years, cracked her sisters little smile mask like a walnut hammer, score.

"Violet?" she frowned, unwilling to scowl completely where she could be seen, "Violet, what are you doing here?"

"Tuney, is that anyway to greet your littlest sister?" she hugged the stiff woman, who wouldn't quite pull away, "And you must be Marge, I've heard so much about you," she turned to the tub of lard next to the bitter woman.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Marge said reluctantly, "Of course I'm sure I just can't quite remember, but Petunia has spoken so much about her sisters," she recovered quickly.

"And where are my manners, this is my niece, Jade," she presented her 'apprentice,' "It's Chan now, I met this wonderful Archeologist, bit of a bookworm, but I love him to death, he's so easy to rile up, Jade is his niece, was his niece first," she grabbed the arm of her sister, "Jade stepped in as my maiden of honor, I was so disappointed when all of you couldn't come," she lied, she'd invited them to check on Harry, and had somehow been waylaid in that on more than one occasion, something was going on, and whatever it was she'd get to the bottom of it, maybe before the cavalry came.

"I never, going off and marrying some random, Chin-… Chinese gentleman, without even getting your older sisters approval, what would your parents have thought if they'd been alive?" Marge began, barely stopping herself at the dirty look from this woman's niece, not to mention the murderous look from the woman herself, "Of course poor Petunia wouldn't go and lend credence to whatever heathen sham of a wedding you had with, whoever your husband is."

By force of monumental will, Viper didn't kill the foreign national in her own country, and smiled, "Well I'll just have to convince you of Jack-," she cut herself off, making things easier, "s worth for a proper English girl, he's really a wonderful guy, why don't we meet you at your house for tea, still #4 Privet Drive?" she asked sweetly.

"I really don't think that," Petunia got a hold of herself rather quickly all things considered, just not fast enough.

"C'mon, you can't say no to a little tea with your little sister can you?" Viper gushed fakely.

"Be a sport Petunia, by the time Vernon gets here we'll have her convinced that she should have gone for a proper English Gentleman," only the disgusted cast that had come over her features for a fraction of a second gave proof that she had met or seen Vernon at some point.

"Wonderful, we'll follow you there right now then," she pulled away the seething Jade.

"God I hope the cousin we're coming to find isn't that kind of waste," she finally choked out after the doors were closed on the rental car Viper had procured, her namesake courtesy of Section 13.

"Hopefully he takes after his parents," Viper shrugged, "At least we know he couldn't be worse," Jade only groaned as they approached their destination.

Lana Lang now owned the outstanding shares of Grunnings Drill Company, forty-three percent of a small company that was just short of a complete sinkhole, she was hoping that that would be enough leverage for whatever went down with the Dursleys, theoretically it was their only revenue, apart from whatever they got for Harry's care from her Aunt and Uncle's estate, and that could certainly be cut off if something was amiss. Sometimes she wondered, Powergirl, or 'Sharon Kent,' had come with her, how crazy was she if Lois 'The Bulldog,' Lane-Kent was their velvet glove in this equation?

Showing up in front of the building in a stretch limo might have been overkill, but she didn't think so. She went down right from the top, and every single employee right down to the second-lowest director was impeccable, this company was full of bright innovative go getters, and should be making money hand over fist, until she got to the Junior most Director of the Grunnings Firm.

Some bimbo had bought off almost half the company, and she thought she could come in here and throw her weight around. If that American Bitch thought she could intimidate Vernon Randall Dursley, ha even if he was worried, only forty-three percent, ha forty-three percent had voted to fire him at every board meeting since he'd been hired, he obviously had the confidence of the REAL bosses, whoever they were.

The first thing the misogynistic lump of lard did was turn to the so far untouched refreshment station near the door of the Penthouse conference room she was doing reviews from, after eying her and 'Sharon' like they were pieces of meat. She threw up a little in her mouth when he finally turned back to her. He waddled over towards her with what he thought was a charming smile, still holding three of the six donuts he'd taken, and still chewing one, he appeared to think he was being very charming. She barely stopped Powergirl from killing him, when he 'slipped,' and his hand landed on her chest, he wasn't even convincing when he tried to fake contrition. He sat opposite her, 'assistant,' and after ten minutes she was one-thousand percent sure why this company was hemorrhaging money, she was also sure he was embezzling, she just couldn't figure out how he could possibly still be here.

Ha, put that little bint in her place, she looked like she might be part Paki, or Chink, but by the time their meeting had gone on for a while, he was sure he'd be getting a little 'Chinese Takeout,' or 'Indian Food,' looking at the blond with her, maybe he'd be able to swing some 'American Food,' too.

"So apart from your unique performance ratings, there was another reason I was eager to meet you Mr. Dursley," Lana gushed, "It turns out that you are married to the Aunt of one of my closest friends," he looked incredibly sour, "The famous reporter Lois Lane," he looked puzzled, but puffed up accordingly. "I'd just love to meet one of the influences that my friend has spoken so highly of…" He jumped right into her trap.

"I'm sure Pet," he rushed, "That's Petunia my wife would love to have more company, we're already having my sister over tonight, and it should be no trouble at all," he smiled fakely. Ha forty-three percent voting him out, zero percent soon enough, maybe he wouldn't get anything, "special," today, but he'd be President before this was over.

As the slime ball left both Lana and Sharon couldn't help but give a shudder.

Some skinny kid was working in the beautiful garden, with a beautiful blonde woman, and just about the cutest little girl she had ever seen when they pulled up, and contrary to her expectations her cousin Dudley was there, and he wasn't doing anything stupid or destructive, he looked puzzled, but not malicious, kind of a change from the Christmas Cards, but a good one. Kara was looking intently at the skinny kid, but he was only a little younger than she was so, that kind of made sense. Pamela was eying the garden in appreciation, Selene just looked bored. Harley looked thoughtful, kind of a scary look for her, Wally had gone to see the sights, and now he was back. Willow had pulled out some baggies of plants for some reason. She didn't know where Buffy, Dawn, and Xander had gotten stakes, and Jordan and Sara both looked like they were psyching themselves out for something. Lois's thoughts were interrupted by Harley of all people, "I think it's clear that your cousin there has been abused," she said shaking her head.

"What?" Lois said shaking herself from her thoughts, "What do you mean?"

Harley rolled her eyes before answering, "His clothes are oversized, clearly leftovers from your fat cousin there, he's working in the garden, what kind of teenage boy takes obsessive care of a garden?" she buffed her nails, "And those two girls are helping him, the little one looks like eight, and her sister is several years older, there isn't anything obvious to do to the garden, so obviously he's pushed to impossible standards about it, the older girl is immaculate, as is the younger, except dirt from the garden that they just got into, they were both dressed to kill, so obviously the stakes are pretty high, and either they care for him a great deal, or feel sorry for him," she continued, "The fat one is your other cousin right?" she finished at Lois's nod, "It looks like he's used to seeing Harry work, he's trying to be nicer to him for some reason, I'd say he changed his mind about Harry in some way recently, but he's intimidated by the girls, I think he'd be trying to help if they weren't there, but I'm almost sure he'd do more harm than good."

Lois stared at the woman wide-eyed for almost a minute. "Well you didn't think they'd have me working on Mr. Jay in the first place if I wasn't top notch did yah?" It was then that two fairly expensive cars pulled into #4, followed by a classic Viper. "And that Reporter Lady, is probably our cue," Harley Quinn winked before heading fearlessly towards the door. Within moments she was followed by Willows discretely armed bunch, Jordan and Sara, the other two supervillians present, Wally, Kara, and Lois herself.

Wow all kinds of people are showing up, it was a good thing he'd straightened out the garden before leaving, that could have been embarrassing.

The other girls had all gone home, or wherever they needed to go to make their way to France. The Weasley Twins had probably accompanied Ginny and Ron to the Burrow, Neville had undoubtedly gone home, and they were delayed because Harry couldn't bear to leave his garden in such a sorry state, if it wasn't the most adorable manifestation of an altered mental state ever Gabrielle probably would have cried. That fat boy, Dudley was hovering around looking nervous, no great surprise with her sister there she supposed. Of course it was somewhat troubling when an airport shuttle parked across the street, and the people on board began gawking, but as long as they were gone before she and Fleur had to deal with any more 'Relatives,' they would probably end the day without killing anyone. "les boules!" Gabrielle swore roundly upon seeing the unpleasant lump of a woman from before driving in after another car, followed by a car carrying a similar looking man, and further followed by a very nice sports car, and a limousine.

"Gabrielle, language mi petite belle," Fleur admonished, "Although I suppose a limousine would have been a nice touch," she finished speculatively, before standing and brushing herself clear of any dirt or grass she might have picked up, leaving her as immaculately dressed as before.

"Harry, mon petit canard, let us go quickly, I'm sure we can work out some way for your garden to be taken care of properly," Fleur pulled Harry up by his arm, trying to distract him from his self imposed task while motioning to Gabrielle to come in closer, even knowing she was going to spill the beans with Dumbledore, she'd have to apparate them out.

Willow had been training Dawn for so long she was just about as good as a witch could get from training alone. Hearing that she had a cousin who might need help had been a gift from the goddess, a little excursion, something easy to deal with, with appreciable results, she'd only met cousin Harry once, and he'd been just weeks old, but innocent thing like that being abused, not right. She'd thought it was weird that those blonde girls were working in the garden with him, and then when the one called him her little duckling to distract him while she obvious got some kind of transportation spell ready.

"Arreste Totalum!" Willow knotted the stem of the Lavender Rose locking her spell around the trio before the blonde could escape with her cousin. "Buffy, be ready they're going to try to run, she must have brainwashed him or something," she moved slowly towards the frozen trio, it was odd because normally that spell would only stop magical transportation, or teleportation, they must be right on a Ley Line or where several cross for them to be frozen entirely.

In the future she was going to have to apologize to her Grand'Mere, she had told her on more than one occasion that it was possible for non-magicals, or non magically inclined Veela to access magic, just not be the source for it like Wizards and Witches were. With symbolism, obviously the Lavender Rose meant to bind an Enchantment in place. It was also acting as a full body bind as well probably because of the amounts of raw power Harry was pouring into the air, of course Harry moved like a wet dog shaking itself off, and then leaned back into a huddle with the frozen sisters. "Okay, now what?" he asked excitedly in a whisper. Gabrielle choked off a laugh, when Fleur just groaned in frustration unable to clearly articulate, "Oh, right," he said sheepishly, trailing a finger from each of their shoulders to the tip of their elbows in a way that inexplicably made them both blush furiously, and shiver out of the magic that was holding them. The Rose the redheaded woman who'd hexed them was holding turned blood red and lost all of it's petals in an explosion of color, before it's knotted stem began to quickly grow very hot, causing her to drop it in surprise, clutching at her burned fingers and bursting into flame as it left her hands, "Sorry," he tossed over his shoulder waving a hand causing tiny lightning bolts to form in midair and heal her burns, before turning back to the two Veela, already in mid discussion.

He loved his wife, sometimes he resented the fact that she had come with a connection to that freakiness, but he didn't blame her, she hated it as much as he did, but really to come home with an important business contact, and find, freaks using their freakishness on the front lawn, maybe in full view of the neighbors. They might have to put up with the boy for a while longer, (Petunia couldn't be expected to do all that work on her own) but a line had to be drawn. He stormed right out of the car towards the redheaded bint that he'd seen do some_thing_ and he was about to confront her about it when the boy, dared to just appear, dared to just use his freakiness to appear right in front of him, he'd put a stop to that, he laid into the boy with the tire iron he'd been planning to confront the redhead with.

"Oh Fudge!" Harry disappeared before they could even try to convince him to just apparate with them to Gringotts. Appearing between the redhead who'd hexed them, and his Uncle, he appeared to be beginning to try to calm the furious lump down, when with a speed belying his size he swung something that had been hidden behind his bulk, had Harry been paying his normal attention, he might have gotten away with a glancing blow, as it was he got his arm between the tire iron, and his head, deflecting the powerful attack into his shoulder, and saving his life. Most of those present were shocked, a smile began to grow on his face, and he pulled back for another go.

Marge was only a little shocked before she got back to what was important, where were Ripper, and those other animals, if she could stud them she could build some serious business.

Supergirl and Powergirl were two of the fastest beings on earth, and The Flash was without question the fastest, but you can't win a race if you don't move, and none of them had ever seen such casual brutality. There was no indication that the boy, no 'young man' in question had had anything against the man who'd hit him, he just threw all his considerable weight into the blow. They were further shocked by the glee which he'd begun to show as he pulled back for another blow on the unmoving target, but if they hadn't been beaten to it they certainly would have stopped him.

Gabrielle was not shocked by the brutality of the fat lump, she'd seen the look on his face, just like she'd seen the look on his sisters face, the anticipation earlier when she'd tried to set her dog on Gabrielle's love, before it had even been clear that he was planning to hit Harry she'd been moving to intercept him, Harry might not be in his right mind, but she was, and she may look like an eight year old girl, but she had the flight muscles of an adolescent Veela, and a lot more rage in her service to protect her love than she'd ever thought possible. Her beloved sister was just behind her, and just as angry as she.

This one would kill him even their freakishness wouldn't save him if he was dead. Petunia had told him that much. He might die anyways but he couldn't take that chance. That barmy old freak had gotten him out of jail before, this time he'd just finish the job first, then he'd never have to deal with them again, hell maybe the boy had some money, his father had seemed the type, at his wedding, maybe he'd kill the freak and he'd inherit some nob title. That vague thought drove greater power into his blow, all of Vernon Dursley's weight and strength focused on driving the weight of the tire iron through his nephew's skull.

Had Gabrielle been tall enough Vernon Dursley's life would have ended right there, as it was, instead of halting the tire iron, and turning it on him, she only stopped the man's wrist cold, breaking it. To most of those present the sight was surreal, a petite little eight-year-old halting the bulk of such a large man, her sister catching the tire iron like it was nothing, actually bending it a little, as she looked like she was stopping herself not quite successfully from turning it back on the man and ending his disgusting life, of course Supergirl, and her clone were stuck wondering if they had sisters, and the boy was, Gone?

He had enough experience with people who had superpowers to know that the little girl would be fine, that boy needed some serious medical attention though. He noticed that the little girl had sunk about four inches into the perfectly manicured lawn, and that her hot sister was obviously planning on catching the tire iron, little girl was unhurt, so Lois's poor cousin, was heading to Watchtower for Jonn Jonz world class medical care. Tapping his earpiece he told them to open the bay doors, he didn't normally do this, but he called on his full speed, carefully triangulating his path, he called on the full might of the speed force, forming a path straight through the air, somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean, and ran straight into space.

She had been intending to knee him in the groin. His hanging belly protected him, somewhat, a groaning Vernon Dursley passed out on the ground after flying ten feet through the air trying to cradle his wrist and his belly at the same time.

"You hooligan!" Marge Dursley began shouting at Gabrielle, who was looking around trying to find the injured Harry, "You beast…" she began before Petunia's hand on her arm stopped her, and she looked around to see that of the many people watching her, none seemed even remotely sympathetic, even Petunia seemed less of a mind to berate the perpetrator of this attack on her brother, and more of a mind to get this meeting over with.

"Somnis Mortis," the redheaded woman dropped a knotted plant of some kind on her now sleeping husband. "All I know is that that really fast guy is a friend of Lois's, and that she was the one who got the impression that all of you might be mistreating Harry in the first place, he seems like a sweet boy despite whatever the heck is going on, let's get this straightened out, hopefully Harry will be alright, so we won't have to kill your husband."

"How dare you, you little harlot, who do you think you-" Marge was interrupted by black eyes burning into her own.

"I'm the Dark Wicca who almost ended the world when someone I cared about died, and the Green Wicca who has shed more blood than most armies," Willow deadpanned leading the way into the house.

"Boy she makes the Slayer, and the Dimensional Key sound almost nice doesn't she?" Buffy asked, "So Lois, why'd the fast guy grab your cousin?"

"He probably took him to the hospital," she said confidently, "He's certainly no doctor, so he probably just got him somewhere where he'd get help as quick as possible, it looked like a nasty injury." She started in before turning to the two Veela girls present, "Why don't you two come in, and explain what's going on to the rest of us?"

"Perhaps you should explain yourselves first," Gabrielle said petulantly, "After all you have kidnapped our love, and stolen him away after getting him injured!" she accused, "What do you want with my Harry, you, you intruse?"

Despite their misgivings they found themselves following the rest into the house, Petunia was only stopped from dialing the hospital by Powergirl, "Don't bother, we passed a hospital," she was back moments later.

"Was Harry there, we need to get to him?" Fleur asked Frantically.

"I suspect Wally took him for more comprehensive, or complete help," Supergirl chimed in, "I promise after we get this sorted out I'll check where I think he is, and tell you, or take you there, or whatever, okay?" she reassured after getting a shrug from Lois.

"You just stood there and let him be attacked by that creature," Gabrielle chimed in, "You giving terms to us regarding seeing our love is unacceptable!" she tried to pull away from Fleurs restraining hand to approach the Super teen, but was unsuccessful.

"As funny as it is to hear an eight year old claim to be dating my little fifteen year old cousin, perhaps we should get to the bottom of what's happening?" Lois said trying to be reasonable.

"Sixteen, I am Sixteen, and I will be Seventeen in two weeks, in only two weeks I will be filled out, and appear to match my age, as I should," Gabrielle huffed, "And on my birthday I will take Harry somewhere private, and I will snog him until he loses his breath, and then what, then how will people tease me for being underdeveloped, they won't that's how, they will not tease me anymore," she finished triumphantly earning odd looks from everyone and embarrassed looks from Fleur.

"I apologize for Gabrielle, she is experiencing the compressed emotional turmoil of puberty, first love, bonding, and a very stressful situation with the man she cares for all at once," Fleur said calmly.

"Okay, so she's sixteen, I have my doubts about the brat getting one girl, let alone two," Marge started to glares from the rest present, "Why the bereaved Widow act?"

Seeing an opportunity Fleur folded her arms turning from the disgusting woman, "I fear it is quite illegal to discuss in front of you Miss Dursley," quite enjoying watching the woman begin to turn colors.

"Forget, Sleep," Willow placed two sprigs in the woman's blouse pocket, and turned to Powergirl, "Maybe Mr. Lumpy would like to wake up to a friendly face, in," she checked her watch, "Thirty or Forty hours." The Super teen returned within moments regaining her spot next to Lana Lang.

So it was that Petunia Dursley found herself completely without allies in the impending discussion of what was going on with her nephew, and indeed she eventually decided she was quite glad to be rid of him, and she'd be very lucky if she never saw anyone of the girls who cared about him again, lest they get the idea that living well wasn't the best revenge, and even found herself quite restricted in her contact with her remaining blood relatives for similar reasons.

Harry came to awareness sitting in a comfortable room across from a green man. "Oh Merlin, I am so sorry, whatever I did, I hope I didn't cause you guys too much trouble, I didn't even know this thing was coming until I was sick the last few days, and Dobby brought me a trunk from the Goblins, and I'd just thought I was feeling bad because Sirius was dead, but it turned out to be something different. Anyways, a lot of the girls I know seem to be trying to help, and I don't think they'd be trying whatever they are if it didn't have a pretty good chance of fixing whatever is going on, so how much trouble am I in, and do I get a phone call?" Harry asked surprised that he didn't have to take a breath.

"Impressive," Jon Jonz stated calmly, "You noticed," he smiled, "You are in no trouble Harry, you are simply going through a particularly strong awakening of power, you were injured by your uncle, and brought to the Watchtower to be healed," he reassured.

"Oh no, you have to send me back, magic isn't good for technology, I had a hell of a time sorting out some of the things in my relatives house," he looked panicked, "I don't want to crash your space station."

"Don't Worry Harry, you are being shielded by two powerful mages, they're interested in meeting you, you are mostly healed, but they cannot shield you fully if you are not sedated, which is why I came into your mind to ask where you would like to be sent to?"

"I guess we were going to Gringotts," Harry said thoughtfully, "In London," he said helpfully.

"Are you certain, legally from the Watchtower, we could issue you the proper paperwork, and send you right to the Delacour Manor in France?" Jon asked carefully.

"I suppose that would be easier, but even in here I don't seem to be completely in my right mind," he looked thoughtful, "Would it be any trouble to check with Fleur, I imagine you have someone on scene if I was brought here for medical treatment, and they did seem to have a plan."

"Very thoughtful of you," Jonn said, "I'll check, and then proceed as required," he nodded.

"Thank you so much for your help," Harry said waving at the fading Martian.

"What a surreal experience," Jonn Jonz stated calmly as he left Harry Potter's Mind staring down at the mended, but still sedated teen.

"What's up Jonn?" Wally asked, "Something wrong with the kid?"

"I've never sat and had a polite conversation with someone who seemed to be more than powerful enough to remove me from their mind before," Jonn finished seeming somewhat puzzled before explaining their course of action to the Flash.

She was a decent Artificer, and Enchanter, and that was most of the reason she fit into the Justice League, it made limited options more convenient. Otherwise she was a powerful, but fairly moderately skilled witch, but most wizards ended up policing themselves, and most muggles didn't have any idea how to deal with magic from the opposing team, so when Zatanna was tapped to baby-sit Harry Potter, and Wally after they were set down in London, she didn't mind, in fact the kid was kind of cute, actually really cute, and radiating power like the sun, never the less, she had to put her heel down when they beamed down and he woke up.

"You have to promise to follow any orders from me exactly how you hear them!" she said to the groggy teen.

"Wouldn't it make more sense if I interpreted your orders how they were meant to be, and why exactly did you guys agree to follow me around?" Harry asked suddenly suspicious.

"Lois is a friend, Kara and Sharon are associated with the Justice League, and her cousins, through marriage," Wally talked himself into a corner.

"None of your business till you're sane enough to keep secrets, deal," Zatanna broke in, offering a handshake.

"I agree to all requests forthwith," a flash of blinding light indicated an accidental magical oath, "And I won't tell anyone his clothes aren't really there," he indicated Wally, who before anyone could blink was suddenly wearing clothes that blended in quite well instead of his costume.

"Alright," Zatanna thought that the whole ordeal would be a piece of cake now, "Take us - HonkHonkHonk - Diagon Alley," she said calmly. Of course her actual words being Take us to Diagon Alley," had no effect on Harry's actions, having been driven by what he heard. "Take us Diagonally," before she could even think as to why he was waving his arms all three disappeared with an odd sound halfway between a rubber band breaking, and an out of tune Banjo.

AN: Sorry it ended up so long, and for the Cliffy, hard to know when to cut things short with this sequence, should be worth it in the end, this sequence will end at a very confusing Delacour Manor, leading to a relaxing rest of the summer, cool stuff involving Dumbles next Chapter, and I think the last of the cross over characters, but I'm not sure.


End file.
